The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping global demand for semiconductors, bringing renewed attention to the chip supply chain, which has long been dominated by Korean and Western firms.
Signs of change are rippling through the chip market. China, driven by massive domestic demand and betting on technological innovation to fuel future economic growth, has been stepping up efforts to achieve chip self-sufficiency and cut dependence on foreign suppliers.
This explainer examines China’s progress across the semiconductor value chain, the breakthroughs achieved and the gaps that remain, placing them in context through comparisons with global leaders such as South Korea, and looks at Beijing’s next steps to push the sector forward.
China’s semiconductor industry has expanded rapidly in recent years. Output reached a record 484.3 billion units last year, up 85.2 percent from 2020, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Under its 14th Five-Year Plan, which set the economic blueprint for the country during the 2020-25 period, Beijing vowed to raise semiconductor self-reliance to at least 70 percent by 2025, a goal that has gained urgency amid tightening U.S. export controls. While China has not disclosed official self-sufficiency figures, Goldman Sachs estimated last year that domestic suppliers met about 14 percent of China’s semiconductor demand by value in 2024, and expects it to rise to around 37 percent by 2030.
Progress has also been seen upstream. The domestic share of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which has long been dominated by foreign suppliers, rose to 19.92 percent in 2023 from 4.91 percent in 2018, according to estimates by China Securities.
Chinese companies are also seeking to narrow the technology gap with global leaders. Moore Threads, hailed as “China’s Nvidia”, said late last year that its latest Huashan AI chip has a performance better than Nvidia’s Hopper architecture and comes close to the U.S. tech firm’s newer Blackwell line.
Chinese dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) maker Changxin Memory Technology unveiled its Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) DRAM products in November, featuring higher frequencies and larger capacity — key requirements for advanced AI servers — marking its entry into advanced DRAM, a segment long led by Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
A mockup of a chipset featuring Samsung Electronics’ high-bandwidth memory technology on display at the 2025 Semiconductor Exhibition in Seoul. AFP-Yonhap
Despite notable progress in recent years, Chinese companies still lag behind Korean and Western rivals in both production capacity and technological maturity.
Source: Korea Times News
