The Chinese authorities are preparing for a kind of “arms race” with the United States in the field of microelectronics, writes Bloomberg. Beijing is preparing protectionist measures to circumvent restrictions imposed by the administration of us President Donald trump.
According to sources of the publication, the Chinese government is preparing to launch a large-scale program to support the industry, calculated until 2025. Also, the costs of financing research, scientific development and export support will be included in the 14-year state budget.
Chinese President XI Jinping has already promised to allocate 1.4 trillion dollars to support and develop microelectronics. It is assumed that they will allow creating new technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence.
The plans of the Chinese leadership have two main goals: to ensure the export of their own technologies and products in spite of possible restrictions (due to their breakthrough nature) and to protect the domestic market in case of possible difficulties with the import of semiconductors, chips and processors from abroad, primarily from the United States.
At the moment, China’s annual imports of semiconductors are estimated at $ 300 billion. At the same time, the US is making extensive efforts to weaken Chinese companies. Huawei, a smartphone manufacturer and global leader in 5G technology development, is blacklisted and faces severe restrictions in its operations in America. The local division of the mobile service TikTok should be sold to the American company by mid-September — to avoid blocking. The reason given is suspicion of the transfer of personal data of users to the Chinese security services.
