Approved by the National Development & Reform Commission and with a loan totaling US$1.6 million from the World Bank, the State Key Laboratory of ASIC & System was established in 1992 and is the sole state key laboratory in IC design in the country. The lab passed the national evaluation in 1995 and re-evaluations by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2002 and 2007. Based on two national key disciplines –“Microelectronics and Solid State Electronics” and “Circuit and System”, the lab is under the first degree discipline “Electronic Science and Technology” which is a state key discipline as well. In the lab there are PhD and master programs and post-doctor stations.

Taking advantage of the multi-discipline edge, centering on integrated circuit, a key issue of the close crucial to economic and social development and national defense in the country, and in line with international mainstream development in microelectronics and national strategic requirements, the lab has launched research projects on specialized IC design methodology and breakthrough technologies of IC system on the basis of microelectronic technology, CAD and circuit system theory methodology. Its objective is to solve the edgy theoretical problems and key technological difficulties in research on IC, system, and design-related device technology, to develop chip technologies with the autonomous intellectual property rights for the advanced electronic system, and to become one of the most important bases for IC Design research, industrial development and talent cultivation.

In line with national development strategies and the trend of international IC SOC technologies, aiming at edgy problems of design theory, method and technology in deep ultra-submicron, nanometer, ultra-high speed, ultra-low-power, mixed-signal circuit, the lab focuses on four research areas: SOC design, IC CAD, deep ultra-submicron/nano devices and process, and MEMS.

The lab aims at internationally advanced IC research and serves the economic development in the country. Centering on the research directions, the lab has taken on and completed numerous research projects of various kinds, including those funded by 863 Plan, 973 Plan, the National Natural Science Fund, as well as a number of joint international projects. The development over the last few years has made the lab one of the leading organizations in some research areas of the discipline in China with some research results attaining internationally advanced level. The lab has made great contribution to scientific and technological innovation in China’s IC research.

In recent years, the lab has contributed a number of high quality academic papers to top international journals and conferences. More than 70 papers have been published on such key international journals as IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, IEEE Transactions on Computer Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, IEEE Trans. on Power Electronics, IEEE Trans. on VLSI,IEEE Electron Device Letters, IEEE Trans. on Electron Devices, Advanced Materials, Applied Physics Letters, etc. Over 100 papers have been published at first class IC design and CAD international conferences as ISSCC，IEDM，DAC, ICCAD, DATE, IRPS, Symposia on VLSI Technology, ESSCIRC, A-SSCC, ISCAS, ASPDAC, and so forth.

The lab has published seven academic works, among which three academic works are in English and were published by world renowned publishers Elsevier Science and Springer-Verlag respectively. More than 138 patents for invention were obtained. The lab has also won first and second national prizes for scientific and technological progress, Shanghai municipal prizes for scientific and technological progress, national awards for scientific and technological progress nominated by Ministry of Education, and many other provincial and ministerial awards.

Prof. Xuan Zeng is now the director of the lab and Prof. Xiaolang Yan heads the technical committee. The lab has a faculty of 74, including 1 Academician of China Academy of Engineering,4 professors of “National One-thousand Plans”，4 professors of “Cheungkong Scholars Program,”3 winner of National Distinguished Youth Fund, 50 professors and associate professors.  The lab strives to attract talent from home and abroad with its potent policies and has recruited over 30 researchers with international background. Simultaneously, the lab is devoted to nurturing local academic leaders and young researchers to strengthen the research team and work on significant research projects. Young and middle-aged professors in the lab have been funded by a number of talent support program of the Ministry of Education and Shanghai municipal government. Many of them are technical committee members of national key special programs, 863 Plan and of Shanghai municipal government. Also many of them have won such honorable titles as New Century Talent, Shanghai IT Top 10, and Shanghai Outstanding Young Teacher.

The lab boasts an area of 12,000 square meters and equipments with a total value of RMB 2.1billion YUAN. It has three research platforms on IC design, testing, and process, which serves the lab in the principles of being open, cooperative, interactive, and resource sharing. The lab is active in international communication and exchanges through various channels: 1) by hosting international conferences, e.g. ASP-DAC、ASICON、ICSICT、ISIF; 2) by establishing joint laboratories with companies such as Intel, Xilinx, Novellus, Agilent, ADI, ARM, etc; 3) by doing joint research with international academia. Supported by the Fudan University Key Lab Visiting Scholarship Fund, the lab has attracted over 50 professors from European and American universities to do joint research here. It strengthens the lab with frontier research and international level. The lab therefore becomes more forward thinking and internationalized.