Total Telecom: China is Approaching Chipset Self-sufficiency in the Battle for Semiconductor Innovation

Asia Pacific, China, Europe, United Kingdom

18/08/2021 — LONDON — (BUSINESS WIRE)

Total Telecom has conducted an interview with Caroline Gabriel, research director at Analysys Mason, discussing the ongoing semiconductor innovation and how China’s technical acceleration is affecting the market.

According to Caroline, the Chinese semiconductor market is a lot closer to achieving self-sufficiency than we would have predicted a couple of years ago. She explained that China’s dedication to achieving that self-sufficiency has been very strong and the levels of innovation have been impressive. China will likely reach self-sufficiency for 28nm chips this year and 14nm processors next year.

Although 28nm and 14nm chips are the most widely used chips today, developing more advanced chips, like 7nm and even smaller processors, are crucially fundamental for China to play role in emerging and future technologies. Caroline believed the progress towards this goal is just a matter of time as China has proven its ability to innovate and create effective partnerships with its progress in 14nm processors.

Like China, the European Union and individual governments in Europe have set aggressive targets to achieve self-sufficiency and build an export industry, as Europe has found itself stuck in the middle of China and the US, with its domestic market’s deficiencies exposed by the ongoing supply shortage. Caroline added that Europe needs to be more self-sufficient and have a more robust ecosystem, to move away from the more old-school industry that it has now.

While the semiconductor industries around the world are scaling up as rapidly as possible, the increasing geopolitical polarisation is negatively impacting the industry’s recovery. Total Telecom reports the crucial importance of global collaboration, with Caroline concluding that global crises are best addressed cooperatively, with everybody pooling their resources. She also highlighted the positive signs that Chinese and European industries may work together in the future to combine their expertise and achieve greater scale.

About Total Telecom

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James Llewellyn
james.llewellyn@totaltele.com