Shanghai Builds China's Biggest Chip-making CenterShanghai, the leading industrial city in China, is moving closer to becoming a world- class production center of microelectronic chips, which are widely used in digital telecommunications, computers and other electronic products.Officials with Shanghai Municipal government said Wednesday that about 4 billion US dollars-worth of domestic and overseas investment has been injected into 72 microelectronic projects and related enterprises specializing in chip manufacturing, designing, testing and related services. The investment is only part of the planned chip production center in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park in the Pudong New District. Shanghai and Beijing have been endorsed recently by the central Chinese government to build national microelectronic industrial centers. According to a five-year blueprint approved by the Shanghai Municipal government, at least 10 chip production lines will be built and put into operation before 2005, about half of the chip production lines planned in Beijing. A number of world-class chip plants capable of producing silicon chips of eight to 12 inches in diameter will emerge in the coming five years in Shanghai. In addition, a number of encapsulation and testing lines, and 250 chip-design companies will be built to form a complete microelectronic production chain, said the officials. Shanghai also plans to set up a national microelectronic research and development center and a training system to form China's own research and development system and to enhance independent innovation capability. Late last month, the Shanghai Belling Co. Limited started construction of a chip plant with total investment of 1.3 billion yuan (about 157 million US dollar), which is expected to produce 0.35-micron digital-analog integrated circuits. Construction of two chip-making projects with an investment of 1.5 billion US dollars each have started recently, involving funding from Taiwan investors. Many microelectronics research and development institutes, including Fudan University, and Legend Research and Development Center, have established research and development centers in the park. Experts said Shanghai is in a better position to become China' s leading chip producer. They said Shanghai is home to some of the country's major institutes of microelectronics. Local universities train over 4, 000 professionals specializing in microelectronics each year. As a fully-grown market and the country's leading commercial and financial center, Shanghai is well-positioned in the Yangtze River delta, China's major economic growth belt and major producing area of information products. China recently decided to give priority to the development of the microelectronics and software industry in a bid to promote the country's industrialization and improve its comprehensive national strength in an information era. At present, China is heavily dependent on imported microelectronic products, producing only 10 percent of what it needs. Beijing, one of the major producers of information technology products, imported 20.5 billion chips worth 9.5 billion US dollars last year, up 26 percent over 1999. |
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