Xi Jinping’s economic czar assigned to lead China’s chip development: report
China’s President Xi Jinping has tapped a top economic adviser to shepherd a key initiative aimed to boost domestic chip development and production, in an attempt to overcome sanctions imposed by the United States, Bloomberg News reported.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will front the development and manufacturing of the country’s third-generation chips, including the formation of related financial and policy support measures, according to Bloomberg’s Thursday report.
Considered a soft spot for Beijing to break through the sanctions imposed by Washington on chip imports, the commission will span trade, finance and technology to offer “Beijing one of its best chances to sidestep the hurdles slapped on its chipmaking industry by the U.S. and its allies,” the report said.
The report also quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that China had set aside about US$1 trillion in funding for the plan, part of which will be jointly invested by the central and local governments in a series of third-generation chip projects.
According to a government document, the Ministry of Science and Technology has planned to inject 400 million yuan (US$62 million) into procuring some key “strategic electronics materials,” including the third-generation chips.
The U.S. sanctions, handed down during Donald Trump’s presidency, have reportedly smothered the development of Huawei Technologies Co’s smartphone business and other Chinese chip vendors such as SMIC.
“China is the world’s largest user of chips, so supply chain security is of high priority,” Gu Wenjun, chief analyst at research firm ICwise, told Bloomberg. “It’s not possible for any country to control the entire supply chain, but a country’s effort is definitely stronger than a single company.”
Neither the State Information Office of China nor the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has responded to the report.
The news saw the share price of SMIC rise 5.4% on Thursday afternoon, closing at HK$24.3.
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