Shanghai's IC sector may post 12% climb in revenue

The revenue of Shanghai's integrated circuit industry, which accounts for one-third of the total revenue nationwide, may grow 12 percent annually this year, higher than China's "zero or single-digit" expansion, according to the IC industry association.

Shanghai's high growth rate is attributed to the strong design sector and expansion of overseas IC firms this year. Xue Zi, deputy general secretary of the Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Association (SIA), said yesterday it was the first time in 2011 that the revenue of the local IC design sector surpassed that of the manufacturing sector.

In 2011, Shanghai's IC industry revenue was 63 billion yuan (US$10 billion), up an annual 17.2 percent. The revenue may grow 12 percent year on year in 2012, according to SIA.

By comparison, China's IC industry revenue will "remain unchanged or have single-digit growth" this year compared with a revenue of 157.2 billion yuan last year, according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA).

In 2011, the revenue of the chip design sector in Shanghai grew 39.1 percent annually to 14.9 billion yuan, compared with 12.8 billion yuan in the IC manufacturing industry, which fell 4.2 percent from a year ago.

"The chip design is the flagship sector of the whole IC industry chain representing innovation and development level of the industry," said Xue. "The rapid growth of the design sector will fuel the revenue of manufacturing, assembly and testing sectors in the future."

Four of the top 10 chip design firms in 2011 are from Shanghai, according to Chen Xian, CSIA's secretary-general.