China has vigorously promoted the application of domestic chips in fields such as electric vehicles
With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, the importance of chips, as the "heart" of automotive electronic systems, has become increasingly prominent. In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a series of policies and measures to vigorously promote the application of domestic chips in electric vehicles and other fields, aiming to reduce dependence on foreign chips and improve the independent and controllable ability of the domestic chip industry.
Government policies encourage the purchase of domestic chips
In 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will issue a notice requiring automobile and key parts manufacturers to give priority to the purchase of domestic chip products. The notice pointed out that in order to implement the "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035", accelerate the modernization of the industrial chain and supply chain of automobiles and key parts, and enhance the independent and controllable ability of the industrial chain and supply chain, enterprises should give priority to the purchase of domestic chip products when purchasing chips.
This policy aims to reduce the dependence of the mainland automobile and key parts industry on foreign chips, and improve the independent and controllable ability of the domestic chip industry. For a long time, the mainland has been highly dependent on imports, and once it is subject to trade restrictions or technical blockades, it will have a serious impact on the automotive industry. Vigorously developing domestic chips and improving the self-sufficiency rate is an important part of ensuring the security of the automotive industry chain and supply chain.
The development status and challenges of the domestic chip industry
Despite the government's strong support, the development of the mainland's chip industry still lags behind the international level, and the main constraint is the shortage of talents. According to statistics, in 2023, the talent gap of integrated circuit design in mainland China will be as high as 500,000, and the talent gap for chip manufacturing will be as high as 800,000. The lack of talent has seriously restricted the development of the mainland's chip industry.
In order to solve this problem, the government has introduced a number of support policies to support the development of domestic chip enterprises through investment funds and other means. In 2022, the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund will complete the fundraising in stages, with a scale of 200 billion yuan, to support the development of integrated circuit manufacturing, design, equipment, materials, packaging and testing.
At present, SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor, Loongson Zhongke, GigaDevice Innovation, Wingtech Technology, etc. are the major chip manufacturers in mainland China. SMIC is the largest chip manufacturer, with revenue of more than 120 billion yuan in 2023. However, compared with international giants, there is still a big gap between mainland chip companies in terms of advanced process technology and production capacity.
U.S. sanctions have accelerated the pace of autonomy and control
In recent years, the United States has imposed sanctions on Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and ZTE, preventing them from accessing American chips and related technologies, which has further accelerated the pace of China's development of its own and controllable chip industry.
Affected by the sanctions, Huawei's chip subsidiary HiSilicon was forced to stop purchasing TSMC's 7nm and below process chips. In 2022, Huawei announced that it would invest nearly 100 billion yuan to build a new chip manufacturing base in Wuhan, and planned to achieve mass production of 28nm process chips in the next five years.
China has also accelerated the pace of development of the semiconductor industry. Semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride have the advantages of high temperature resistance and radiation resistance, and have broad application prospects in aerospace, new energy vehicles and other fields. In 2023, many domestic companies will make major breakthroughs in the field of semiconductor materials.
Although the U.S. sanctions on Chinese technology companies have had a serious impact on related enterprises, they have also prompted China to accelerate the pace of development of the independent and controllable chip industry, laying the foundation for independent innovation in the chip industry in the future.
The Chinese government has vigorously promoted the application of domestic chips in fields such as electric vehicles, aiming to reduce dependence on foreign chips and improve the independent and controllable ability of the domestic chip industry. Although the development of the mainland chip industry is still lagging behind the international level, it will surely promote the domestic chip industry to a new level through the introduction of a series of support policies, increased investment, and accelerated talent training. At the same time, U.S. sanctions on Chinese technology companies have also forced the mainland to accelerate the pace of development of its own and controllable chip industry. In the near future, China's chip industry will surely achieve breakthroughs in independent innovation and inject new impetus into the development of the national economy.