China's Trade Deficit in Chips Topped USD200 Billion for First Time Last Year
Dou Shicong
DATE:  May 18 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Trade Deficit in Chips Topped USD200 Billion for First Time Last Year China's Trade Deficit in Chips Topped USD200 Billion for First Time Last Year

(Yicai Global) May 17 -- China's trade deficit in integrated circuits pushed through the USD200 billion mark for the first time in 2018, according to new figures, mainly because of the country's rapid advance in information technology devices.

The shortfall widened 17.5 percent last year to USD227.4 billion, the National Business Daily reported today, citing China Semiconductor Industry Association Vice Chairman Yu Xiekang.

The country's imports of integrated circuits soared 19.8 percent to USD312.1 billion, surpassing USD300 billion for the first time, while exports stood at USD84.6 billion, according to data Yu released at the World Semiconductor Congress 2019 in Nanjing.

Semiconductors remain China's largest single import category, Yu said. But the country also enjoys a growing share of the global market, with the figure forecast to increase to 46 percent next year from 7 percent in the year 2000, he added.

China-made mobile phones account for 40 percent of the international market, while the country's production of tablets and liquid crystal display televisions make up 35 percent each and laptops, 25 percent, according to Yu.

As the world's top chip consumer, China has strengthened its own research and development efforts and is determined to form a complete and independent industrial chain in the face of pushback over foreign mergers and acquisitions, Yu said, adding that the country's semiconductor industry is determined to speed up its expansion.

China's chip sector revenue rose 20.7 percent to CNY653.2 billion last year, of which the design, manufacturing and assembly, and test industries accounted for 38.6 percent, 27.8 percent and 33.6 percent, respectively, according to data published previously by the CSIA.

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Keywords:   Semiconductor,Trade Deficit