But its shelf life can only last up to 6 months... Imported photoresist raw materials are key materials for integrated circuit wafer production. Reporter | Related | Raw materials
Recently, a leading chip manufacturing enterprise in Shanghai has received approval documents from relevant departments for the second time. This means that in the next year, with this approval, they can import photoresist raw materials multiple times to ensure stable production of integrated circuit wafers.
Integrated circuits are the "food" of the information industry, feeding the entire industry chain, and photoresist is a key material for the production of integrated circuit wafers. In September 2021, six national ministries issued a notice“ γ- Butyrolactone needs to be managed according to the third category of precursor chemicals, and import permits and corresponding filing management are required in the import, sales, and other links.
This notice has caused difficulties for the company, as the photoresist raw materials contain a small amount“ γ- Butyrolactone. "The shelf life of this type of chemical raw material is generally only 3-6 months and requires low-temperature refrigeration, so companies can only import multiple batches. After implementing the 'single license' import license application model, it means that each batch of imports must be applied for, which will affect the timeliness of raw material supply. Once faced with the risk of material interruption, not only can the company's own production and research and development needs be guaranteed, but it also affects downstream enterprises," enterprise officials told reporters.
In this way, the company made an emergency call to the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce to report this dilemma. After receiving the request from the enterprise, the Municipal Commission of Commerce immediately communicated and coordinated with the competent department of the Ministry of Commerce. After receiving a reply from the relevant department agreeing to "one approval, multiple batches of imports within a year", the relevant departments of the Municipal Commission of Commerce guided the enterprise to apply for approval from the Ministry of Commerce and successfully obtained approval, thereby ensuring the normal production of the enterprise and the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain.
A person from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce told reporters that in fact, many enterprises have reported similar issues. With this company's "model house", we should quickly replicate and promote it, empowering more enterprises. Therefore, after conducting in-depth research on enterprises and communicating and coordinating with relevant functional departments, this year, with the promotion of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, the "Several Policy Measures for Promoting Stable Scale and Quality Improvement of Foreign Trade in Shanghai" was officially introduced. Article 17 "Facilitating the Handling of Foreign Trade License Certificates" clearly stated that "supporting enterprises with good compliance systems to apply for general licenses for specific dual-use items, achieving one-time processing and multiple batches of import and export within a year."
The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce stated that starting from the first half of this year, Shanghai has introduced multiple policy measures to stabilize foreign investment, foreign trade, and promote consumption. In order to turn good policies into "real dividends", it is necessary to make enterprises fully aware of the policies, fully understand them, and make full use of them.
At present, they have fully launched the promotion, training, service, and implementation of various policies in the business field. Each department has formulated a "list of responsibilities for policy implementation" according to their division of responsibilities, and has organized large-scale business activities such as industry associations, industrial parks, investment promotion conferences, government enterprise communication roundtables, key exhibitions, and forums. They have also run the "last mile" of delivering policies to their doorstep.
