Why China can’t fix the global microchip shortage
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Last Updated: Mar 02, 2021, 09:37 AM IST
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Synopsis
China s self-sufficiency in semiconductors remains low: It exports about $100 billion worth of chips but imports more than $300 billion. Meanwhile, China makes 28% of the semiconductor production equipment required by chipmakers, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. estimates.
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The stark reality is that, when it comes to chips and chipmaking machinery, China just can’t produce what the world needs.
Why can’t China step in to fill the chip shortage? The vaunted factory floor of the world has flooded the global economy with goods, and has often had to deal with domestic oversupplies itself. Why then has it been largely on the sidelines of the debate over solving the worldwide semiconductor shortage?
Xi mobilises China for tech revolution to cut dependence on West
Shanghai skyline. Li Yang/Unsplash
For US politicians, China’s potential to dominate sensitive, cutting-edge technologies poses one of the biggest geopolitical threats of the next few decades. President Xi Jinping is similarly worried the US will block China’s rise, and this week will unveil plans for greater self-sufficiency.
At an annual session of China’s legislature, top Communist Party leaders will approve a five-year policy blueprint to cut dependence on the West for crucial components like computer chips while also making big bets on emerging technologies from hydrogen vehicles to biotech. The push to mobilise trillions of dollars could help China surpass the US as the world’s biggest economy this decade and cement Xi’s goal of turning the nation into a superpower.
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Members of the People s Liberation Army honor guard walk past a banner depicting Chinese president Xi Jinping near the Forbidden City in Beijing in May last year. | BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg Mar 2, 2021
For U.S. politicians, China’s potential to dominate sensitive cutting-edge technologies poses one of the biggest geopolitical threats of the next few decades. President Xi Jinping is similarly worried the U.S. will block China’s rise, and this week will unveil plans for greater self-sufficiency.
Xi Mobilizes China for Tech Revolution to Cut Dependence on West bnnbloomberg.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bnnbloomberg.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TSMC sales might rise 25%
Staff writer, with CNA
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to post a 25 percent year-on-year increase in sales in the first quarter of this year to US$12.91 billion, up from US$10.31 billion a year earlier, as its production is at full capacity, market advisory firm TrendForce Corp said in a note last week.
The increase would help TSMC cement its leadership in the industry by taking a 56 percent market share in the global pure wafer foundry business, TrendForce said.
Its forecast was in line with TSMC’s estimate in January, which pointed to a range of US$12.7 billion to US$13 billion for the first quarter.