Biz / Tech

China will boost investment on semiconductor and flat panel displays

Zhu Shenshen
The higher spending seeks to cut the country's reliance on imports and overseas technologies.
Zhu Shenshen

China will continue investing in the strategically vital semiconductor and flat panel display sectors to alleviate its dependence on imports and overseas technologies, industry officials told a Shanghai IT fair today. 

Chips and new technology panels are widely used in TVs, computers, mobile phones, cars and new devices like virtual reality and robotics.

“It’s a long term (goal) for China to cultivate its own semiconductor industry," said Zhou Zixue, chairman of China Semiconductor Industry Association. He is also chairman of SMIC, the Chinese mainland’s biggest made-to-order chip producer. 

In 2018, global semiconductor spending will hit US$63 billion following a record high spending of US$57 billion last year. Chip producers will move into the heavily-invested production lines on the Chinese mainland this year, making it the regional market with spending second only to the South Korean market. The Chinese mainland is expected to become the top region by semiconductor spending in 2020, with booming demand for artificial intelligence and 5G, SEMI, a global industry alliance, said during a forum of Semicon China 2018 which opened today. 

China’s capacity share of AMOLED, a new screen technology used in smartphones and new devices, will account for 29 percent globally in 2021, up from 13 percent this year, industry officials told another forum FPD China 2018.

The forums are parts of SIIEF (Shanghai International IT & Electronics Fair), the city’s biggest IT show held annually.

The IT fair, set to draw 4,000 exhibitors and 245,000 professional visitors, is held from Wednesday to Friday at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre and from March 20 to 22 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).


China will boost investment on semiconductor and flat panel displays
Zhu Shenshen / SHINE

A speaker describes the multiple use of chips at Semicon China 2018 today.


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