China reports local chipmaking boom with output up more than 40%

PC and smartphone numbers also grew in 2021, suggesting supply chains are strong

China has reported dramatic increase in local production of semiconductors and other electronics.

The nation's Bureau of Statistics published data on industrial production during July '21. Integrated circuit production rose 41.3 per cent year-on-year, to over 31 billion units. For the calendar year to date, IC production jumped 47.3 per cent.

PC-makers were also busy in the first seven months, cranking out almost 36 million machines – a 37.9 per cent year-on-year jump. July production jumped 10.3 per cent.

Mobile phone makers shoved almost 127 million units out the door – and while that was a 2.1 per cent drop compared to July 2020 it also represented a year-to-date jump of 16.4 per cent jump.

July 2020 was of course a difficult month for the world and its supply chains. The Register has therefore checked the Bureau's data for that month and can report some evidence of better-than-bounce-back performance – PC, smartphone and IC numbers all grew faster in July 2021 than July 2020.

The Bureau's data doesn't describe the 31 billion ICs China made, so we can't know if the nation is just cashing in on global demand for semiconductors or starting to build the kind of silicon it needs to achieve its goal of reduced dependence on imported tech.

Whatever the nature of the silicon being made in China, the world will welcome the rise in output. ®