China's semiconductor industry posted an impressive growth last
year, with its industrial structure continuing to improve.
According to a semiconductor summit held recently in Shanghai,
last year China produced approximately 30 billion integrated
circuit (IC) chips, a year-on-year increase of 36.7 percent. The
sector recorded a sales volume of 75 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion),
up 37.5 percent over the previous year.
Industry insiders predicted that the semiconductor industry
would maintain the sound development momentum this year, hopefully
producing 42 billion IC chips and achieving a sales volume of 102
billion yuan (US$12.6 billion).
Since the beginning of last year, the sector has adjusted and
improved its industrial structure, with the IC packaging business
claiming a smaller share and IC design and IC wafer production
expanding rapidly.
In 2005, the IC packaging business garnered 34 billion yuan
(US$4.2 billion) in earnings, up 20.3 percent over the previous
year. Meanwhile, the earnings of the IC design and IC wafer
production reached 13.1 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) and 28
billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) respectively, up 60.8 percent and
54.5 percent year on year.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2006)
