On 3 August, the 2026 Academic Annual Conference of the Chinese Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (CSNAME) and the founding conference of its Professional Committee on Integrated Circuits for Marine and Offshore Equipment were convened in Harbin.

Centred on the theme “Building a Deep Blue Future with Chips, Empowering Marine and Offshore Sectors with Intelligence”, the gathering brought together industry stakeholders to explore new pathways for advancing the independent, controllable and innovative development of core chip technologies for China’s marine and offshore equipment.

WANG Junli, Secretary-General of CSNAME, and YIN Jingwei, President of Harbin Engineering University (HEU), attended the event and delivered opening remarks. The first committee of the professional committee was elected at the conference, with YANG Yunchun, Dean of the School of Integrated Circuits at HEU, elected as its inaugural chairperson.

WANG Junli read out the official decision on the establishment of the Professional Committee on Integrated Circuits for Marine and Offshore Equipment under CSNAME, and set out four requirements for the committee’s future operations: to uphold a clear and accurate positioning, to remain driven by industry demands, to pursue open and collaborative development, and to operate in a standardised and well-governed manner.

YIN Jingwei extended congratulations on the committee’s founding, welcomed attending experts and industry representatives, and expressed sincere gratitude to CSNAME, alongside partner universities, research institutes and leading enterprises, for their long-standing support for HEU. He noted that HEU would throw its full weight behind the committee’s work, leverage its distinctive strengths in academic disciplines, scientific research and talent development, and work in tandem with all committee members to tackle key technical challenges through coordinated efforts. The university, he added, would join hands with all parties to advance the independent and controllable innovation of integrated circuits for marine and offshore equipment, and make greater contributions to national development.

YANG Yunchun stated that the launch of the committee represents a key initiative by CSNAME to pursue the independent and controllable development of integrated circuits. Going forward, the committee will act as a bridge and liaison body, integrate resources across the industry, academia, research and application spectrum, focus on core technical bottlenecks in marine and offshore equipment, and promote the deep integration and innovative application of integrated circuit technologies in the shipbuilding and ocean engineering sectors, so as to provide robust technical underpinning for the high-quality development of China’s marine and offshore equipment.

A representative from HEU’s School of Integrated Circuits delivered a preparatory work report on behalf of the committee’s preparatory task force.

Two special sessions were held alongside the main conference: an Entrepreneurs Exchange Meeting, and a parallel forum on Cutting-edge Technologies for the Localisation of Integrated Circuits for Marine and Offshore Equipment.