Frontier Introduction
According to a news report published by Japanese media "Nikkei Asia":
China has made significant progress in less advanced semiconductor fields, and its rapid expansion is pushing market prices to levels previously "unimaginable", putting pressure on global manufacturers. Behind the rapid growth of China's mature chips lies the response of Chinese enterprises against the United States, as Chinese companies have chosen to expand in the mature chip field that the United States does not pay much attention to, gradually capturing the market, thereby using continuous resources to subsidize R&D of advanced chip technology.
Mature Chips
According to predictions from International Data Corporation, the number of mature chips in China will account for 28% of the global market share in 2025, and the capacity and market share of China's mature chips are showing a continuous upward trend. Chinese chips have already impacted global enterprises in multiple aspects such as quantity, quality, and price.
The most impactful industry is silicon carbide material. Silicon carbide wafers manufactured are widely used in power semiconductor materials required for aerospace, new energy vehicles, data centers, and other infrastructure.
The sales director of a German chip manufacturer in Asia, Mark, told the media:
Two years ago, the price of 6-inch silicon carbide wafers sold by the American company Wolfspeed was $1,500 per piece. However, after Chinese enterprises entered the silicon carbide field, they not only exceeded American companies in production capacity, but also had a significant impact on the quality and price of American companies. Chinese enterprises can reduce the selling price of silicon carbide wafers to $500 per piece. This is a cruel industrial competition, and it is a elimination tournament initiated by Chinese enterprises.
Canadian semiconductor institution Techinsights has been tracking data on China's chip industry for many years. According to industry data, China's domestic chip capacity has shown a growth trend since 2013. During the period of U.S. sanctions, the capacity of China's mature chips increased significantly, accounting for more than 20% of the global total capacity in 2024.
The effect of capacity growth is a reduction in overall costs, and China's mature chips will be exported to foreign markets along with more products. Some Western media have accused China's chip exports under the pretext of affecting the development of U.S. and European manufacturing, misinterpreting Chinese enterprises' foreign trade as an attack on the U.S. industry.
Charles, a chip analyst at the U.S. asset management company Needham, once loudly claimed on the media platform:
Global semiconductor industry should be prepared for the impact of Chinese enterprises in the mature chip field. As the U.S. restricts the development of advanced chips in China, Chinese enterprises began to expand in the mature chip field.
This expansion has a continuous impact. The automotive industries in the U.S., Europe, and Japan are well-developed, and there is a huge demand for mature chips. The chip capacity of Chinese enterprises can meet the needs of these countries' enterprises very well.
Industrial Advantages
Galen Zeng, an analyst from International Data Corporation, said to the media:
Due to U.S. sanctions, China has shifted the focus of the chip industry towards localized manufacturing. Under the push of localization, Chinese enterprises' capacity expansion speed will exceed global peers in the coming years.
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security conducted a technical investigation on the situation of U.S. companies relying on Chinese chips. According to the investigation report, approximately one-quarter of the U.S. chips sold come from Chinese factories, and the manufacturing cost in Chinese factories accounts for only 6% of the total cost.
The cost advantage of Chinese manufacturing is a key point that U.S. companies particularly value. If using the U.S. domestic manufacturing supply chain, the cost would increase significantly, thus raising the final product price, which would inevitably lead some consumers to choose products from other companies.
From the "Chip Act" signed during the Biden era to the tariff policies of the current President Trump, the core purpose has been one: to bring U.S. manufacturing back, and to reshape the dominant position of the United States in both advanced and mature manufacturing.
The "Chip Act" used a large amount of funds from the U.S. government to subsidize the domestic chip industry, while the tariff policy caused fragmentation in the global chip industry, forcing those with advanced chip manufacturing capabilities to develop in the U.S. Only by supporting U.S. chip technology could one obtain certain tariff exemptions. Such policies are not only unfair but also non-compliant.
Although the U.S. has invested a lot of resources to support the chip industry, when facing Chinese enterprises, the U.S. government started to accuse Chinese departments of allocating a lot of resources to subsidize the industry, putting the U.S. into an unequal competitive environment. It also claimed that the export of China's mature chips to the U.S. is dumping chips into the U.S. market, and requested an investigation into China's mature chips.
Chris Miller, an economic historian of the United States and author of "Chip War," said in an interview with Chinese media:
Chips are inherently a globalized industry, and their fundamental definition is to lead human technology into a new era of development. Although chips originated from American companies, they serve the global market. No country can claim to have complete control over chip technology, nor can any country monopolize the chip industry without relying on international cooperation. This is not only disrespectful to science and technology but also a display of arrogance.
Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7555509324018139663/
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