It’s no surprise that the US and China relations are not going to improve any time soon. As we know, last week, the United States Department of Commerce (DoC) officially added China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to its Entity List. The reason behind this is the fear of the latest tech products manufactured using American-origin technology making their way to the Chinese military.
But, the banning of various Chinese tech companies from using American tech only ended up pushing the Chinese tech industry to enhance their technology. The year 2020 will be remembered not just because of Coronavirus but also because the technology has seen unprecedented growth in this year. A recent report coming out of China indicated the growth that the semiconductor sector in China witnessed this year.
The data reveals that roughly 244,000 Chinese firms are registered under the semiconductor sector. China’s Guangdong province, with 108,000 or 44.59% of all the firms located there, is the biggest hub. More than one-fifth (22%) of the firms have registered capital that exceeds 10 million Chinese Yuan, or roughly $1.5 million. Another 17% have capital that ranges between 5 million Yuan and 10 million Yuan.
Due to various US sanctions placed on the country’s industries, the Chinese firms are pushing together to boost the tech companies and enhance their country’s performance. All this shows the determination of the government in making their technology less dependent on foreign resources, something that should have been done long back.
But still, the country is lacking in manufacturing facilities for their silicons. The fabs which the country manufactures are nowhere near the production capability of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics’ chip arm Samsung Foundry.
According to sources, the bottlenecks that Chinese firms such as SMIC face when catching up to their international rivals include lithography machines and chemicals required during the chip-making process. Without the help of industries like Intel, it is difficult to manufacture the chips with efficiency. But the countries semiconductor agencies are reaching there.
