China is 5 years behind global chip leaders, says report
However, China is catching up with global leaders in the design of logic chips and is only two years behind.
China is behind global leaders by five years in commercial manufacturing of advanced logic chips and continues to lag in semiconductor-making equipment, according to a US think tank.
The findings of the report by the Washington-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) were described by the South China Morning Post.
“China is investing hundreds of billions of dollars to become a leader in semiconductors, so it is making impressive strides, but its progress so far has been limited to certain aspects of chip development and production,” said Stephen Ezell, ITIF’s vice-president of global innovation and the author of the report.
Top players like Taiwan's TSMC are about five years more technologically advanced than China’s largest foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
SMIC last year began producing chips at the 7-nm node for Chinese company Huawei’s Mate 60 smartphone, in defiance of US sanctions, which seek to cap Chinese companies at 14-nm.
Meanwhile, SMIC is believed to be on track to mass produce processors on its 5nm-class process technology. Huawei's HiSilicon chip development arm will be SMIC's main customer for its 5nm node.
But a teardown of Huawei’s new Pura 70 phone earlier this year reportedly showed that even though the phones were made with many homegrown parts, US sanctions have slowed China’s technological progress.
However, China is catching up with global leaders in the design of logic chips and is only two years behind, the ITIF says.
The growth of the country’s semiconductor industry, especially in older-generation chips, has been fueled by huge subsidies, the report says.
The US may double tariffs on semiconductor imports from China to 50 per cent in 2025.
