The Chinese smartphone manufacturing industry has been booming for the past few years. However, its semiconductor industry is the weak link in the supply chain, and the recent ban on Huawei and ZTE from accessing US technology exposed this vulnerability.
As a result, many Chinese companies are collaborating to rectify the situation. According to information released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), 90 indigenous companies have filed a joint application for the establishment of the National Integrated Circuit Standardization Technical Committee with its proposed secretariat at the China Electronics Standardization Institute.
This also includes the semiconductor company SMIC. The company believes that most foundries in China are either small-scale or weak in technology. Hence, the Chinese semiconductor industry needs to incorporate groups for standardization. Therefore, they have proposed the said committee.
The firms that have joined hands to improve and develop the Chinese semiconductor industry include Huawei, HiSilicon, Xiaomi, Datang Semiconductor, Unichip Microelectronics, Zhanrui Communication, ZTE Microelectronics, SMIC, Datang Mobile, China Mobile, China Unicom, ZTE, Tencent, and more.
According to the report, the secretariat will coordinate weak industries and the promotion of integrated circuit standardization work. Its focus will be on the research and formulation of the following standards:
- Improve standards of assessments for chipsets.
- Track and develop emerging technologies.
- Conduct research to improve semiconductor performance, reliability, and information security requirements.
- Carry out parameter index system and quality assurance.
- Improve testing methods.
MIIT has not revealed how long will it take till the approval of the application and the formulation of the committee.
