By Shi Guang & Ma Shuping, Research Team on “The Development of Integrated Circuit Industry”, Enterprise Research Institute, DRC

Research Report Special Issue, No.36, 2017 (Total 1560) 2017-10-10

Abstract: Designing is the most active link of the integrated circuit industrial chain. The integrated circuit designing sector has the following characteristics: high-personnel requirements, high risks and long cycles for investment, strong effect of the scale economy, diversified kinds of products with wide difference, and a strong role played respectively by IP and EDA. In 2016, the total share of China’s integrated circuit designing sector accounted for 40 percent of the aggregate of integrated circuit industry. Generally speaking, China’s special-purpose chips rank one of the best in the world, but are facing difficulties in substitution with domestic products and a weak foundation for the improvement of capabilities. Due to a poor command of key technologies, China’s high-end general chips still lag far behind the international advanced ones, and the development is seriously restricted by the industrial ecology. Bolstered by the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the development of special chips need to focus on market forces while the high-end general chip require constant and firm support by the government. Efforts need to be made on the cultivation and introduction of talented personnel, constant support for basic research and the application of domestic products for import ones. In addition, we need to flesh out the fiscal and tax supportive policies and encourage private capital to invest in the integrated circuit designing sector.

Key words: integrated circuit designing, chips, industrial ecology