China's national chip fund raises $48bn to help local firms
Beijing has just confirmed the third instalment of its national semiconductor 'Big Fund', and it's the biggest yet.
This USD 48 billion finance raise is the largest to date by the state-owned National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, which was created in 2014. China’s Ministry of Finance is its largest investor, with the country’s biggest state-owned banks and investment vehicles also participating.
The idea is to support the domestic chip supply chain at a time when local firms are struggling to import critical raw materials and equipment. The US has placed restrictions on exports to Chinese companie by its own suppliers and those of its allies. Companies such as Huawei have been signficantly held back by these sanctions.
This has led China to step up its efforts to support a domestic players in advanced chip manufacture and design by local chipmakers such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC).
This latest round is known as Big Fund III. It follows a raise of about 138.7 billion yuan (USD 19 billion) in phase one, and 204.2 billion yuan (USD 28 billion) in phase two in 2019.
