The Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced Wednesday that it has developed a new kind of chip based on China's audio and video coding standard.

Sui Xueqing, a principal researcher of the CAS institute, said the new chips can be used in personal computers, televisions, mobile phones and personal digital accessories for audio and video entertainment.

An expert appraisal team, including nine academicians of either the CAS or the Chinese Academy of Engineering, called the latest development a "world-class technology."

The CAS institute established the Audio and Video coding Standard Work Group of China in June 2002 and tries to develop technologies with their own intellectual property.

"While drafting the standard, we were developing the new chips to save time," said Sui, who also chairs the board of a high-tech company held by the CAS institute.

Beijing Zhongguancun High-tech Park has organized a research and development base for industrializing the AVS chips. Big Chinese companies such as SVA Group, Haier, TCL and Lenovo also showed interest in jointly developing the chips and AV consumer products based on the chips.

Huang Tiejun, secretary general of the work group, said 300 to 500 million such chips would be needed by Chinese manufacturers in the coming 10 years. Buying that many foreign-patented chips might cost about one billion US dollars.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2005)