Tech war: southwestern tech hub Chengdu offers US$72 million in subsidies to local semiconductor projects amid China’s chip self-sufficiency drive
- The subsidies form part of 12 new policies unveiled this week by Chengdu’s municipal government to support the city’s semiconductor sector
- It reflects a broader trend among local governments across China to pursue programmes in line with Beijing’s chip self-sufficiency drive
The subsidies will cover “major projects in integrated circuit manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment and materials”, according to the report, citing the announcement made by the city’s Economic and Information Technology Bureau.
Under the new policies, certain “top talent” in the local semiconductor sector can receive an annual award of 500,000 yuan plus a one-off award of 3 million yuan, while each of the teams they are a part of can get 15 million yuan in financial support.
The IC-focused initiatives in Chengdu and Nanjing reflect a broader trend among local governments across China to pursue programmes that support the country’s drive for semiconductor self-sufficiency, countering the US government’s strategy of tech containment.
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“General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached high importance to the development of the integrated circuit industry, and he has repeatedly made written and verbal instructions on the matter,” Liu told delegates at the gathering in Beijing.
More government measures to support the domestic semiconductor industry might be on the way during the “policy window period” after the “two sessions”, according to a Citic Securities report last week.
“Judging from the development experience of the US, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, government policy guidance, talent training, downstream industrial clusters and continuous capital investment are all indispensable elements,” the state-owned investment bank’s report said. “From the perspective of current industrial security, semiconductor equipment, components, materials, high-end chips and other ‘bottlenecks’ are expected to be promoted by policies.”