The mainland wants to expand its role as a world producer of semiconductors, with demand soaring and chip fabrication plants sprouting up throughout the country.
Government leaders consider the need critical as the mainland imports more than 90 per cent of the semiconductors it consumes for the manufacture of electronics products, including the central processing unit chips used in personal computers.
Beijing is finding itself at loggerheads, however, with the United States Government, which has vowed to keep hi-tech products out of China's reach.
Whether it succeeds may depend on the ability of multinational chip-producers, such as NEC and Motorola, to convince Washington to change its policy.
Most mainland-produced chips are between one and two microns, in terms of the line-width etched on to the silicon. This puts the mainland 10 to 15 years behind the most advanced processes. A smaller micron measurement denotes a faster, more advanced chip.
Under US policy, export and technology licences for the mainland are denied for chip fabrication equipment that can produce semiconductors using processes below 0.5 micron.
