SMIC Founder Says 'Optimistic' China Can Catch Up With US in Semiconductors

Chang told a livestream forum that persistent research and development as well as investment in new raw materials would enable China to compete.

By Reuters | Updated: 5 August 2020 18:29 IST

SMIC Founder Says 'Optimistic' China Can Catch Up With US in Semiconductors

Photo Credit: SMIC

The comments come as Washington and Beijing continue to spar over Huawei

Highlights

US and China are fighting over the alleged security risk posed by Huawei
Chang founded SMIC with funding from China's government in 2000
Chang said he was optimistic China could catch up with the US

The founder of China's largest chipmaker SMIC said on Tuesday he was "optimistic" China could catch up with the United States in the next generation of semiconductors but that US efforts to contain its technology sector could not be taken "lightly".

Richard Chang, also the former CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), told a livestream forum that persistent research and development as well as investment in new raw materials would enable China to compete, according to an official transcript on Wednesday.

The comments come as Washington and Beijing continue to spar over Huawei Technologies, which has brought new urgency to China's calls to improve its domestic chip industry.

"I am optimistic and believe we can catch up," Chang said in a rare appearance at the forum, organised by China Securities.

He said that while China's talent base was a "weakness" in the short-term, the country had made "great progress" in manufacturing raw materials and remained a leader in next generation super-fast 5G technology.

"If China maintains its leadership in 5G technology, it can remain far ahead in wireless connectivity, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, because China already is strong in high-tech applications," Chang said.

The United States and China have been fighting over the alleged national risk posed by the products of Chinese tech giant Huawei for over a year, and relations between the world's two largest economies has deteriorated since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Chang said that during his time at SMIC in the early 2000's, the US Department of Commerce had been generally supportive of Chinese tech companies, but that now it sees them as its "biggest obstacle."

The US government has cited "national security" as grounds for its restrictions on Huawei. The firm has denied holding any ties to the Chinese government.

Chang founded SMIC with funding from China's government in 2000 as a domestic Chinese rival to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation. He resigned in 2009.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

Is Nord the iPhone SE of the OnePlus world? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.