IC sector set for over 50 pct rise in revenue

China's integrated circuit market is expected to post an over 50 percent surge in revenue to 350 billion yuan (US$56 billion) in 2015 from that in 2012 on strong government support, the industry regulator said on Tuesday.

To meet the 2015 target the government will help Chinese firms to develop and grow strong to narrow the gap with overseas giants. The industry will grow 20 percent annually until 2020 with government support and surging demand for mobile Internet, cloud computing, Internet of Things, and Big Data in the domestic market.

"The IC industry grew rapidly but it still faced problems such as firms' difficulty to get finance, a lack of innovation and development not meeting market demand," the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday on its website.

The IC industry in China, still highly dependent on the import of IC products and components with key technologies, lacks competitive ability and a complete information security system, the ministry said.

Changjiang Elec, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp — the Chinese mainland's No. 1 made-to-order chipmaker — and chip designer Spreadtrum Communications are expected to challenge overseas giants TSMC or Qualcomm, according to market watchers.