Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to unveil a five-year blueprint that will see China investing 1 billion yuan (US$147.2 million) in research and development of advanced technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, mainland media have reported.

The blueprint will be announced next month, along with the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s 14th five-year development plan for the country until 2025. Authorities will step up efforts to develop third-generation semiconductors, enhance wireless communication networks and develop AI technology, according to reports.

Advanced semiconductors would take precedence, similar to how the development of atomic bombs were prioritized in the 1960s. Mainland authorities hope to use the technology in chips for mobile devices, military radars and electric vehicles, the reports said.

The blueprint was ridiculed by some Chinese internet users as merely an exercise in spending money without any innovation. “All Xi Jinping knows is only spending money!” one mainland netizen said.

They circulated a media interview with Shenzhen-based tech giant Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei in May last year to mock Xi’s way of thinking. In that interview, Ren said China had developed a habit of spending vast amounts of money in building bridges, roads and houses. “But for chips, spending money doesn’t work,” he said.

News of the five-year blueprint comes after a series of sanctions placed by the United States government against Chinese tech firms, including a ban on supplying chips to Huawei.

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