In China, shortly before the introduction of new US sanctions, the growth of chip production slowed sharply

Official statistics from the PRC authorities say that from the beginning of this year to November inclusive, 395.3 billion integrated circuits were produced in the country, which is 23.1% more than the results of the same period last year. At the same time, imports of chips into China also increased by 14.8% over the period, since the national semiconductor industry is heavily dependent on it.

Image Source: AMD

As the South China Morning Post notes, government statistics show a slowdown in chip production growth to 8.7% last month, as the country produced only 37.6 billion integrated circuits by the end of November. For the first time since the beginning of the year, the growth rate of chip production volumes in November fell below 10%. In general, based on the results of 11 months of this year, industrial production in China increased by 5.4%, so the semiconductor industry grew at a faster pace, although it was behind some others.

For example, in the field of industrial robotics, growth at the end of November was 29.3% year-on-year, and in the electric vehicle market it reached 51.1%. The main export destinations for Chinese-made semiconductor components are Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Since the beginning of this year, the volume of exports of integrated circuits from China has increased by 11.4% to 271.6 billion units, but imports turned out to be many times higher – 501.47 billion chips, which is 14.8% more than last year’s volume. In value terms, imports of integrated circuits into China increased by 10.5% to $349 billion.

Chinese companies are believed to have accelerated purchases of foreign semiconductor products amid increasing US sanctions restrictions. A new round of expansion of US anti-Chinese restrictions occurred in early December, when the US imposed sanctions against 140 Chinese semiconductor companies, including both chip manufacturers and manufacturers of equipment for producing chips.