ABSTRACT
Domestic demand for semiconductors, especially integrated circuits (IC), is growing exponentially in China, stimulated by the development of information technology and advanced telecommunication infrastructures throughout the country, and by growing demand for common consumer products. China is competing with its Asian neighbors as well as with technologically advanced Western companies. China’s IC industry was virtually nonexistent before 1980. In 1996, China produced less than one percent of the world’s ICs. During China’s Eighth five-year plan period, the electronics industry experienced rapid increases in productive capacity, technological capability, electronics output, and international trade volume. Until 1995 IC design was not done within the industry in China, but rather in universities and research institutes. Hua Jing Electronics Group is the largest of China’s state-owned semiconductor plants and a subsidiary of China Electronics Corporation, a holding company that supports China’s electronics industry. China is pushing plan for construction of several submicron fabrication facilities with supports from government.
