China’s semiconductor sales jumped 24.2 percent year-on-year in May, according to data from the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Chinese experts said on Monday that the data again show that China has formed a mature chip processing industry based on the country’s huge demand from the downstream industry.
Analysts noted that the unreasonable crackdown led by the US on the country’s chip sector, a violation of basic market rules, will fail in the attempt to derail China’s semiconductor industry from gearing up to achieve self-dependence and inject new momentum into the global chip market.
According to the SIA, global semiconductor industry sales reached $49.1 billion in May, up 19.3 percent year-on-year. The Americas saw an increase of 43.6 percent year-on-year, and China ranked second.
“Capacity utilization at Chinese semiconductor manufacturing plants is picking up with the arrival of the peak season for electronic products consumption and the surge in global demand for memory chips due to the rise in artificial intelligence,” Xiang Ligang, a veteran telecom expert based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday.
From electronic products such as home appliances, including refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines, and smart products such as cellphones, they all require chips, Xiang said, noting that sales in these sectors grew in May due to government initiatives to promote consumption such as trade-ins.
In addition to this cost-effective efficiency drive, Xiang attributed the rapid development of China’s chip sector to the vast domestic market, where chip suppliers are able to communicate directly and easily with customers.
“It is more important that China’s chip products can be upgraded in a timely manner according to market demand, with strong capacity for updating and iteration,” Xiang noted.
While the country’s semiconductor industry continues to develop, some Western countries have stepped up their suppression of these sectors in China.
The European Commission (EC) has begun canvassing the region’s semiconductor industry for its views on China’s expanded production of older generation computer chips, Reuters reported on Friday.
An EC spokesperson on Friday confirmed the commission had begun a “targeted consultation [with] the industry to assess further the use of legacy chips in supply chains,” saying that the EU and the US may “develop joint or cooperative measures to address dependencies or distortionary effects.”
“Europe and the US are afraid of the rise of China’s semiconductor industry because they know that their own industries have no advantage or ability to compete in the global market compared with China-made products,” Xiang said.
Data from the SIA showed that compared with the rise of China’s chip sales in May, Europe has seen a year-on year drop of 9.6 percent in sales.
“Playing the ‘chip card’ again proves that the previous suppression measures imposed by the US and Europe against China are ineffective. On the contrary, these sanctions have promoted the self-reliance of the nation’s industry,” Xiang said.
Whether it is the US or Europe, or that the two jointly expect to block China’s technology development through non-market means, this violation of the basic market rules are destined to be unable to change the fact that China’s chip industry is not only bolstering its local manufacturing presence, but also providing more cost-effective products to the globe, Xiang noted.
