Recently
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Finance and
the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) jointly issued the
Implementation Plan of the Updating and Upgrading Project of Critical
Materials, the main tasks of which included the development of high-performance
functional materials needed by the progress of the new-generation information
technology industry: New-generation semiconductor materials and new-type glass
materials; high-end materials urgently needed by marine engineering equipment
industry and reef construction (including high-end metal materials needed by
marine engineering equipment industry and new-type building materials and
anti-corrosive paints needed by reef construction); new materials needed by
energy conservation and environmental protection industry (including new
materials used for atmospheric pollution control, and new-type
energy-conservation building materials; and other new materials urgently needed
by advanced rail transit equipment and other related industries).
The plan proposed that, by
2016, the stable volume production and scale applications of about 20 types of
major new materials should have been realized, including large-size
monocrystalline silicon, wide bandgap semiconductors and devices, new-type
panel display glass, graphene, PM2.5 filter materials, high-performance Low-E
glass, high-speed railway wheel sets, invar alloy thin belts for LNG ships,
titanium alloy tubes, seawater concrete, new-type anti-corrosive paints and so
forth, which would be urgently needed by the progress of industries like
new-generation information technology, energy conservation & environmental
protection, marine engineering, advanced rail transit equipment, etc. It also
suggested that a new-type mutually advantageous and closely cooperative
relationship should be built between material manufacturers and major model
application enterprises, with a clearly defined benefit-sharing mechanism, and
that around 30 new material enterprises should be cultivated, which would have
a relatively strong and sustainable innovation ability and market influence.
By 2020, continuously focusing
on the needs of strategic emerging industries and major national economic
construction projects like new-generation information technology, aerospace,
advanced rail transit, marine engineering, new energies, new energy
automobiles, etc., the stable scale production and applications of more than 50
types of major new materials should have been highlighted and realized. With
the significant improvement of both the innovation ability of new material
industries and the self-sufficiency rate of critical materials, a batch of new
material enterprises with a relatively strong and sustainable innovation
ability and market influence should have been cultivated, and the innovation
ability and market influence of some enterprises should have reached an
internationally advanced level.
The plan also proposed that
venture capital investment and equity investment in new material
industrialization and major application enterprises should be encouraged to
effectively expand the financing channels of new material enterprises, and that
financial institutions should be encouraged to flexibly employ multiple
financial instruments to support the rapid development of new material
enterprises with good reputation, broad market prospect and high benefits.