Crack the "lack of core" Chinese semiconductor industry boom
July 14, 2021
In the first half of 2021, China's semiconductor industry has received many favorable policies and funds.
According to the statistics of China Semiconductor Industry Association, the sales volume of China's integrated circuit industry in the first quarter of 2021 was 173.93 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), with a year-on-year growth of 18.1%.
According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 155.27 billion pieces of integrated circuits in the first quarter of 2021, up 33.6% year on year. The export of integrated circuits was 73.7 billion pieces, up 42.7% year on year.
Although second-quarter data is yet to be released, both supply and demand will continue. Li Ke, vice president of CCID Consulting, said in an exclusive interview with China News Service that in the first half of this year, both globally and in China, the entire industry showed an accelerated trend, with a booming economy and growth exceeding expectations.
However, under the situation of both supply and demand, there are still structural shortages, such as automotive chips, GPU and mobile phones, which have not been alleviated until the first half of this year. This is mainly due to the US sanctions, the epidemic, supply and demand mismatch and other factors.
Li Ke said that the strategic importance of the semiconductor industry has been highlighted, and governments have attached unprecedented importance to it. The support of the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other countries is very prominent. China has also introduced a number of support policies to crack the problem of "lack of core".
Last year, China introduced a number of policies to promote the high-quality development of the integrated circuit and software industries in the new era, and formulated policy frameworks in the areas of finance and taxation, investment and financing, import and export, and human resources. Supporting measures are being implemented one by one.
In early July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China Securities Regulatory Commission and other six departments issued policies to increase the research and demonstration of key core technologies, products and equipment in the fields of basic components, basic electronic components and integrated circuits in the future. We will speed up the distribution of key links and mid - and high-end sectors in important industries that have a bearing on national security and the lifeblood of the economy.
It is worth mentioning that integrated circuit science and engineering became a first-level discipline in the first half of this year after years of appeals from the industry, which means that the whole discipline system will be readjust according to the requirements of the industry, and will help alleviate the talent gap in the integrated circuit industry.
Local governments have also actively followed suit. The provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai in China's Yangtze River Delta and Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong and Sichuan in the pan-Pearl River Delta have all set clear goals for the development of integrated circuits during the "14th Five-Year Plan" and formed relatively clear plans for cluster development.
According to the incomplete statistics of Jiwei, a third-party organization in the semiconductor field, only in the first half of 2020, 21 provinces have implemented more than 140 related projects, with a total disclosed investment of more than 307 billion yuan.
Driven by the policy, China's semiconductor industry capital surge. The second phase of the National IC Industry Investment Fund, set up in 2019, has a registered capital of 204.15 billion yuan, attracting several times private investment.
A shares whether the primary market, or the secondary market, chip enterprises by the enthusiastic pursuit of funds. Li Ke said, from this year's first quarter performance, A - share chip listed companies' stock prices have been supported by performance.
China's chip-making capacity is expanding at an accelerated pace. SEMI reports that global semiconductor manufacturers will begin construction of 19 high-capacity fabs by the end of this year; Another 10 fabs will be added worldwide in 2022. Of these, eight are in mainland China and eight are in Taiwan.
"For a wafer factory, it takes about 18 months from construction to production, and another 18 months from production to full production. In the foreseeable future, China's chip production capacity will increase significantly," Li Ke said. Emerging fields such as 5G communication, VR/AR, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and brain-like computing, and autonomous driving will become important driving forces for the development of the IC market.
Li Ke believes that China is the world's largest integrated circuit market, the demand continues to rise, wafer manufacturing capacity continues to expand, the Chinese mainland is undertaking the third semiconductor industry transfer, quality local enterprises have emerged.
But the pandemic remains the biggest factor in the short term. According to Li Ke, on the one hand, the epidemic has stopped the flow of people in the industry, on the other hand, it has had an impact on design, manufacturing, packaging and other aspects. The global spread of the epidemic continues one after another, and the impact on the semiconductor industry shows no sign of easing up to now.
