back to article China reports local chipmaking boom with output up more than 40%

China has reported dramatic increase in local production of semiconductors and other electronics. The nation's Bureau of Statistics published data on industrial production during July '21. Integrated circuit production rose 41.3 per cent year-on-year, to over 31 billion units. For the calendar year to date, IC production …

  1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    Quality

    The output is not everything. Many Chinese chip clones barely meet specs and fail often.

    Given how they buy up chips and stockpile (learning from diamond traders), I wouldn't hold my breath...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Quality

      Sounds like the MSG hoax/scare spread in the 70's USA to stop people going to Chinese restaurants and take-out. Same with Indian generic drugs in the last decade.

      1. MCPicoli

        Re: Quality

        In my personal experience, chinese-made chips are inferior, both in design and manufacturing, but each year, year after year, they're getting less inferior and more refined. Most "new" designs from them still have some problem or limitation, but less and less. For many, the difference simply doesn't matter anymore.

        How much time until they're as good as any western chip or better?

        (my experience revolves around MCUs, radio/cell modules and simple logic ICs)

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: Quality

          >In my personal experience, chinese-made chips are inferior, both in design and manufacturing

          In my experience Chinese made chips are the cutting edge of technology and production.

          Of course you have to specify which "China'

        2. 9Rune5

          Re: Quality

          Dunno about ICs, but I'm worried about Chinese capacitors.

          E.g. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supplies-101,4193-5.html rates Japanese caps the highest.

          1. khjohansen

            Re: Quality

            That was 2015 - the world has changed! (I'd still be wary of the lowest priced in China though)

            1. Quantum Leaper

              Re: Quality

              Chip Chinese Caps killed a Motherboard company call Abit, early this century. Their caps have ALWAYS been sh*t...

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Quality

      my recent experience with a chip shortage (in which a Hong Kong chip dealer offered to sell them for over 20 times the normal price in very limited quanitities) on an otherwise popular (yet single-manufacturer) device that had good world wide supply at design time [my solution was to re-do the firmware to accommodate inverted-logic and save tens of thousands of dollars] suggests that China may pick winners and losers until they've completely cashed in on the disaster.

      And last I checked, China was STILL a communist country.

      seeing the chip making FINALLY recover though is still "good". But I hope the recovery is TOO LATE to stop manufacturers from building chip factories elsewhere.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Boycott China. Their human rights failures shame us every time we purchase a product made there.

    1. khjohansen
      Big Brother

      RE: Boycott China

      So - go off-grid, live in a cave & off the land?? You'll be hard pressed to find a (tech) product with no chinese components ...

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Pirate

      your point about human rights failures is "not wrong" of course, but the method should be simpler: build competing factories elsewhere, i.e. no more "all eggs in China's basket".

      In 2021 there are 2 additional reasons to do this. One, China has proven themselves to be an unreliable part of the supply chain. Two, the manner in which they (the CCP) just "shut things down" without warning, damn the consequences. The combination of the two suggests they can't be trusted.

      (other places in the world exist where tech investment is likely to pay off BETTER)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You would first need to convince all the leading western companies to stop giving all their IP to the Chinese. They are all doing it, even nuclear know-how has been transferred.

      Look at the legendary "oops" moment there - Westinghouse transferring knowledge with embarrassing results...

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