News on China's scientific and technological development.

Hi AndrewS

The unintended consequences of Huawei Ban, as we all had said, China should had done this years ago, but still better late than never.

from cnTechPost

China announces new policy to encourage IC Industry development
2020-08-04 18:56:01 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
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China's State Council today announced new policies offering a wide range of incentives, including tax breaks, to further optimize the environment for the development of the integrated circuit and software industries.

For integrated circuit manufacturers or projects encouraged by the State to produce integrated circuits with a line width of less than 28 nanometers (nm) and an operating period of more than 15 years, they are exempt from corporate income tax from the first to the tenth year.

For integrated circuit line widths less than 65 nanometers and operating periods of 15 years or more, integrated circuit manufacturers or projects are exempted from corporate income tax from the first to fifth year, and from the sixth to the tenth year at a statutory rate of 25 percent.
For integrated circuit manufacturers or projects whose line width is less than 130 nanometers and have been in operation for more than 10 years, they are exempted from corporate income tax from the first to the second year and 50% off at the statutory rate of 25% from the third to the fifth year.
Losses incurred in the taxable year by integrated circuit manufacturers with line widths less than 130 nanometers are allowed to be carried forward to future years, with a maximum total carry-over period of 10 years.


The state-encouraged integrated circuit design, equipment, materials, packaging and testing enterprises and software enterprises shall be exempted from corporate income tax in the first to second year from the profit-making year, and shall be taxed at the statutory rate of 25% in the third to fifth year by halving the corporate income tax.
Key integrated circuit design enterprises and software enterprises encouraged by the state are exempted from corporate income tax from the first to the fifth year from the profit-making year, and the tax rate is reduced by 10% in the following years.

In a certain period of time, integrated circuit line width less than 65 nanometers of logic circuits, memory production enterprises, as well as line width less than 0.25 microns of special process integrated circuit production enterprises to import their own production of raw materials, consumables, clean room special building materials, supporting systems and integrated circuit production equipment spare parts, exempted from import duties.
The policy states that it will further strengthen the construction of integrated circuit and software majors in colleges and universities, speed up the setting up of integrated circuit disciplines, adjust course settings, teaching plans and teaching methods in a timely manner to meet the needs of industrial development, and strive to cultivate high-level talents.

from cnTechPost

Apple seeks to build iPhone supply chain exclusively for China market
2020-08-04 18:26:11 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
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Apple appears to be working to create a supply chain comprised entirely of Chinese manufacturers to produce iPhones specifically for the Chinese market, reported today.

This is based on recent aggressive moves by Apple suppliers Luxshare and Lens Technology to acquire Taiwanese manufacturers to operate metal chassis factories in China, a strategy that Apple has reportedly been encouraging.

Luxshare, the largest assembler of AirPods, has recently joined the iPhone assembly chain by acquiring a low-end iPhone production line in the Chinese mainland from Wistron.
In an effort to further expand its presence in the iPhone supply chain, Luxshare has also been keen on acquiring metal case manufacturing plants in the mainland from Taiwanese companies in the iPhone supply chain, the report said.
According to previous reports, Taiwan-based metal case maker Catcher Technology had planned to sell a 30 percent stake in its mainland China factory to Luxshare.


However, according to DigiTimes sources, talks on the deal were suspended after Luxshare began negotiations with Casetek Holdings, an affiliate of Pegatron, to acquire its metal housing factory in mainland China.
As a follow-up, Catcher Technology was also in talks with Chinese mobile phone cover glass maker Lens Technology to sell its Suzhou factory to the Chinese manufacturer, but the deal hit a snag over the purchase price, the sources said.

The move is seen as part of Apple's efforts to recruit more Chinese suppliers who could supply lower-cost iPhone parts to the Chinese market.
Such deals are increasingly seen as part of Apple's plans to diversify its overseas manufacturing base, as evidenced by recent reports that several Apple suppliers are actively seeking to set up production facilities in India.

Just noticed that CNet has a special report on Chinese technology now.

Generation China - Exploring the nation's technological ambitions.

There are like 20 different articles.

China’s Semiconductor Boom: 72 chip companies receive CN ¥26.7 billion in 2020

According to Chinese media Zhidongxi, from the second quarter of this year to July 23, public record shows 77 semiconductor-related financing activities in China. A total of 72 companies have received total financing up to CN¥ 26.7 billion (or US $3.8 billion). China’s capital investment in the chip industry in the second quarter of this year showed a nearly 10-fold increase from last year.

Tam said:

Chinese company suiting Apple for patent infringement relating to Siri. This could sum in the billions.

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Doesnt SIRI started off as DARPA project for defense ?

自主研发 one step at a time.

from cnTechPost

Founder of SMIC: US ability to constrain China not as strong as expected
2020-08-04 23:46:10 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
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The US is less able to constrain China than people think, and we can catch up, Richard Chang, founder and former CEO of China’s leading contract chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), said today at an event.

"If China stays ahead in 5G technology, in the future, China will be significantly ahead in communications, artificial intelligence, cloud services and so on. Because China is very strong in high-tech applications," he said.

"If the US can't win on a level playing field, it will take an administrative approach. It did this with Japan in the 1980s and has been constraining 5G again since 2018, but this time it's no longer against Japan. The US is less able to constrain China, but we can't take it lightly," he said.
"The third-generation semiconductor has a characteristic that it obeys not Moore's Law, but post-Moore's Law. None of its line widths are very small, and the equipment is not particularly expensive, but it's not easy to make the material, and the design has to be superior."
"The third generation of semiconductors, IDM began now is the mainstream, foundry still has the opportunity, but need design companies to find a long-term cooperation with foundry."


"There are places where China is very strong, such as packaging and testing. As far as equipment is concerned, we are lagging behind at optical technology. If we look specifically at the materials, manufacturing, design, etc. of three generations of semiconductors, the gap we have on materials, I personally don't think it's very big."
"To consider the talent base in a short period of time, this is one of our weaknesses, the foundation may be done, but there is a gap between the foundation and the application, how to shorten it? European and American companies are doing a little better, so we borrow their strengths to learn from them."

In 2009, Chang left the SMIC to pursue other interests. Now he is the founder and chairman of SiEn (Qingdao) Integrated Circuit Co.,Ltd.

Mediatek is number 1, most of it is due to Huawei.

from cnTechPost

MediaTek overtakes Qualcomm as No. 1 in China's smartphone processor market
2020-08-04 21:15:43 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
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In the second quarter of this year, MediaTek jumped to the top of the smartphone AP (application processor) market in China with a 38.3% share, overtaking Qualcomm's 37.8%, according to .

Huawei's Hisilicon comes third with a 21.8 percent market share.


Although the brands of Android smartphones remain diverse, the choice of processors available is limited, with Qualcomm, MediaTek, Huawei Hisilicon and UNISOC, a Chinese fabless semiconductor company, being the main players.
In the second quarter of this year, China's smartphone AP shipments reached 170 million units, an increase of 25.8% from the first quarter and down by 20% year on year, according to a report by Digitimes Research.


The report expects China's AP shipments to grow 9.3 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter.
The report said MediaTek's eye-catching performance is related to Huawei's increased orders. In fact, in the current Huawei hot-selling products, there are already a number of devices equipped with MediaTek Dimensity series chips.

The report also said that Huawei is expected to continue to increase purchases of MediaTek 4G and 5G chips in the second half of the year, although this will in part mean that some of Huawei's own HiSilicon shipments will be replaced.

Huawei to regain its top ranking in 5G mobile base station market this year

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