China’s chip bosses endorse semiconductor push in next 5-year plan
Industry leaders say the draft blueprint underscores Beijing’s determination to reduce reliance on foreign technology.
China’s semiconductor entrepreneurs – including artificial intelligence chipmaker Cambricon Technologies and testing-and-packaging leader Tongfu Microelectronics – have voiced support for the country’s 15th five-year plan, which places renewed emphasis on the chip industry as a cornerstone of Beijing’s technology ambitions.
“National policy direction and planning are very well designed,” said Chen Tianshi, founder and CEO of Beijing-based Cambricon.
Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of China’s annual parliamentary meetings last Thursday at the Great Hall of the People, Chen – a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – told the South China Morning Post that “for companies like ours, the key is to focus on doing our jobs well”.
China’s 15th five-year plan, currently under review during the “two sessions” annual political gathering, makes multiple references to “integrated circuits” and “chips”.
The draft calls for efforts to “refine and strengthen mature-node, enhance capabilities in advanced process technologies, accelerate development of key equipment, materials and components, and advance high-performance processors and high-density memory”.
It singles out the wide-bandgap semiconductor industry – based on materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride – as well as high-performance AI chips.
The blueprint calls for breakthroughs in critical technologies across the entire semiconductor value chain, as well as stronger academic programmes and talent training.