China to invest $81b in integrated circuit sector

China is expected to inject 500 billion yuan ($81.3 billion) into its integrated circuit (IC) industry in the next several years.

The huge funds will come from governments and social investors, 120 billion yuan ($19.5 billion) of which will be from the central government as the first-phase capital of the State industry investment fund, said Xu Xiaotian, executive vice chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association, on Thursday.

The fund, which is expected to be set up in October, will focus on developing the chip manufacturing sector and related industries, said Xu.

Insiders said the effort made by the country aims to promote the IC industry ranging from chip design to chip manufacturing, packaging, testing, equipment and materials.

"Our purpose is to build a complete industry chain involving chips, software, complete machines, systems and information service," Xu added.

He said local governments have responded actively to the country's effort with Beijing expected to inject 30 billion yuan ($4.88 billion) into its IC industry and Shanghai to take out 50 billion yuan ($8.13 billion).

The association will join hands with the China Electronics Appliance Corporation and the Shanghai Economic and Information Commission to sponsor IC China, an international semiconductor exhibition, at the Shanghai New International Expo Center on October 28 as a strong stimulus to the development of the IC industry, said Di Yunzhu, general manager of the CEAC China Electronics Convention and Exhibition.

The three-day event, covering an area of 12,500 square meters, will have more than 200 exhibitors to display exhibits for visitors and buyers from home and abroad.

China's three IC giants, Tsinghua Unigroup, China Electronics and Datang Telecom, will participate in the exhibition together with their overseas counterparts, including Cadence、Synopsy and Freescale, said Di, adding that a series of forums will be held as well to discuss about the LED industry, robots, medical electronics technologies and smart families.