中国在半导体领域有多创新？（英）-ITIF

itif.org How Innovative Is China in Semiconductors? STEPHEN EZELL | AUGUST 2024 Chinese competitors stand about five years behind global leaders in high-volume manufacturing of leading-edge logic semiconductor chips and continue to trail in memory chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, although Chinese firms have made inroads in semiconductor design and production of legacy semiconductor chips. KEY TAKEAWAYS  China seeks to achieve self-sufficiency in all facets of the semiconductor industry, simultaneously reducing its reliance on foreign competitors while attempting to build competitive enterprises.  Chinese “catch up” across semiconductor subsectors is uneven: In the design of logic chips, such as for mobile devices or artificial intelligence (AI) applications, Chinese enterprises remain behind global leaders, though perhaps only by two years.  However, in other subsectors of the semiconductor industry, notably in memory chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME), and assembly, test, and packing (ATP), Chinese enterprises are innovating but several years more behind global leaders.  In 2021–2022, 55 percent of global semiconductor patent applications were Chinese in origin (and China’s number of applications doubled America’s) while Chinese entities surpassed U.S. and Japanese ones for semiconductor patents granted in 2022.  However, in terms of semiconductor industry research and development (R&D) intensity, China’s rate of 7.6 percent was just 40 percent of America’s (18.8 percent), and below European Union firms’ 15 percent.  China’s intense efforts to develop a fully fledged, indigenous, “closed loop” semiconductor industry have spurred a great deal of ingenuity and innovation, but a “go-it-alone” strategy will be very difficult in such an extremely complex tech ecosystem, especially in the face of semiconductor export controls. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION | AUGUST 2024 PAGE 2 CONTENTS Key Takeaways ................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3 A Brief Overview of the Global Semiconductor Industry .......................................................... 3 Background and Methodology .............................................................................................. 6 Importance of Semiconductors and the U.S. Role .................................................................. 6 Overview of China’s Semiconductor Industry ......................................................................... 7 SubSector Analysis of China’s Semiconductor Industry ........................................................ 12 Electronic Design Automation ........................................................................................ 12 Design and Fabrication ............................