The biggest irony in all of this is that the gasoline that is currently driving the Chinese semiconductor industry forward is fear of US sanctions. As I said before in my previous posts, the Americans did what the Chinese government couldn't do in decades, strike enough fear into the Chinese semiconductor and electronics industry for companies to reconsider localizing their supply chain, something that was unthinkable before the sanctions on Huawei and ZTE no matter how much money the Chinese invested in the industry.
Before the current events, the Chinese semiconductor industry was an even larger disjointed monstrosity, with each of its sectors not trusting the others.
Electronics manufacturers did not even consider buying from local design houses, even for their low-end products and even if their products had similar performance to foreign ones.
Semiconductor design houses have not even remotely entertained the idea of using local EDA and IP or partnering with local EDA-IP companies, even with alternatives. Empyrean EDA's largest licensors were foreign companies. They also avoided manufacturing even their low-end ICs with local companies.
Chinese semiconductor foundries avoided buying or collaborating with local equipment manufacturers, software vendors, and materials suppliers, preferring to establish long-term relationships with foreign (especially American) suppliers even if the threat of export controls was ever present.
Chinese equipment manufacturer preferred to buy parts from foreign suppliers even if the same parts were available locally.
All of this created a disjointed industry that was "growing" because of government money but going nowhere, factories sitting idle with hardly any customers, design houses not growing, equipment manufacturers (such as NAURA and SMEE) trying to survive in niche markets such as solar energy and packaging, it was said that working for an SME was a dead end job with little growth, now they are receiving raises.
Don't get me wrong, US sanctions of course hurt Chinese companies, especially companies that developed an addiction to US products, BUT like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and gave rise to mammals, this is an once in a lifetime opportunity for Chinese companies to gain confidence in their products, to improve their products, to win customers and gain experience. If all goes well, China could finally have a jointed semiconductor industry moving forward. Something that will never happen under normal conditions, no matter how much money the Chinese government invests in the industry.