AT&S, the leading manufacturer of high-end IC substrates and printed circuit boards, attended the 14th Annual Meeting of the Chongqing Mayor’s International Economic Advisory Council (CMIA) in Chongqing, China on September 28, 2019. It is the fifth consecutive year for the company to participate in this most influential event. During the conference, Andreas Gerstenmayer, CEO of AT&S shared his insights to support Chongqing’s ambitious goal – building an inland international logistics hub.

Gerstenmayer hosted one of the panel discussions and kicked off the topic with a key note. He underlined that Chongqing should pursue a sustainable development way by increasing logistics efficiency and improving environmental impact.

Digital transformation in logistics including port services is inevitable. It leads to improved visibility, adaptability, efficiency and automation across the city’s supply chain network, while bringing important social and environmental benefits by cutting down energy consumption and emissions, and help to manage the increased demands brought on by the Belt and Road Initiative.

Secondly, streamline industry value chain, for example, boosting semiconductors ecosystem is vital for Chongqing. Semiconductors play a key role for almost every high-tech industry such as computers, communication devices, automotive and others. Industry clusters in Chongqing could reduce logistics costs and stimulate demand across a range of value chains, thus creating considerable market opportunities for materials and equipment suppliers, microchip manufacturers and consumer electronics producers.

Thirdly, Chongqing can also help themselves and the industries by reinforcing a local curriculum and encouraging collaboration between foreign partners with Chinese universities and research institutes. Gerstenmayer introduced AT&S’s academic collaboration with Chongqing University. It includes partnering on research programs, developing curriculum in IC substrates, sharing technical expertise and offering specialized internships.

“At AT&S, we realize the journey towards innovation is enhanced through collaboration. That’s why we develop relationships in academia and invest in universities in Chongqing, working with the brightest minds to transform research into solutions”, explains Gerstenmayer.

At the conference, Gerstenmayer also shared AT&S’ growing experience with Chongqing and China. With the combination of existing and new technologies particularly established in Chongqing, AT&S offers a comprehensive high-end range of interconnect solutions for miniaturization and modularization for the semiconductors industry but also for the high-end microelectronics value chain. AT&S is fully committed to investing in technology and innovation in Chongqing and supporting the city’s prosperous future.