According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's integrated circuit production dropped from 30.4 billion in September to 30.1 billion in October, setting a record high of 32.1 billion in August. The agency added that chip production increased by 22.2% year-on-year.
Although China’s IC statistics do not provide a detailed breakdown of product categories, overall output is a rough measure of the country’s efforts to reduce dependence on imports and promote domestic semiconductor production. This has become a national priority for promoting technological self-sufficiency in the country. matter.
Analysts said that the decline in the past two months may reflect the impact of the global semiconductor supply chain disruption. A recent report by ICWise, a Shanghai-based research company, showed that the delivery time of chip manufacturing equipment (referring to the time between when an order is placed and when the equipment arrives on the factory floor) has been extended to 12 months. The average delay has reached six months, which hinders the expansion plan of the Chinese foundry.
Main mainland semiconductor foundries, including SMIC, are operating at almost full capacity this year to keep up with high demand during the shortage period.
SMIC said last week that plans to expand production capacity are subject to logistics disruptions, extended delivery times, and U.S. licensing requirements. Haijun Zhao, co-CEO of SMIC, said that in the quarter ended September, the company's overall production capacity increased to 594,000 8-inch equivalent wafers, an increase of 32,000 from the June quarter.
As of the end of September, China has planned and built 33 8-inch production lines and 41 12-inch wafer production lines, theoretically capable of producing 1.13 million 12-inch equivalent wafers per month, ICWise notes disclosed.
Governments around the world have been looking for ways to help alleviate the chip crisis, mainly through funding the semiconductor industry. Supply chain integrity has always been another issue of concern to the industry. TSMC, the world's largest foundry chip manufacturer, has always been the main beneficiary of the government's encouragement to build facilities in the local area. This also prevents them from building a new foundry in the United States. It also plans to establish a joint venture with Sony in Japan to establish a chip factory.
SMIC is currently building foundries in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, each of which focuses on the 28-nanometer technology node, and is expected to have a total monthly production capacity of 240,000 wafers. Zhao Haijun said that the Shenzhen plant is expected to start production in the second half of next year, adding that the capacity of the plant has been booked in advance.