China's Quest for Semiconductor Self-Sufficiency

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Relevant to AI governance discussions around compute access and export controls; produced by the Alan Turing Institute's security-focused research center, providing a UK policy-research perspective on China's semiconductor industrial strategy.

Metadata

Importance: 58/100organizational reportanalysis

Summary

This report from the Turing Institute's Centre for Emerging Technology and Security (CETaS) analyzes China's strategic efforts to achieve independence in semiconductor manufacturing and design, examining industrial policy, investment patterns, and technological progress. It assesses the implications of China's semiconductor ambitions for global supply chains, export controls, and geopolitical competition in advanced technologies including AI.

Key Points

•China has made semiconductor self-sufficiency a national strategic priority, driven by fears of supply chain vulnerabilities and US export restrictions.
•Massive state investment through funds like the Big Fund aims to close gaps in chip design, fabrication, and equipment manufacturing.
•China faces significant technical bottlenecks, particularly in advanced lithography and EUV technology, limiting progress toward cutting-edge chip production.
•Export controls by the US and allies have accelerated China's domestic development efforts while also slowing access to frontier capabilities.
•Semiconductor competition has direct AI safety implications, as compute access is a key determinant of who can develop advanced AI systems.

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
US AI Chip Export Controls	Policy	73.0

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 China’s Quest for Semiconductor Self-Sufficiency

 

 
 
 
The impact on UK and Korean industries

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 Ardi Janjeva, 
 Seoin Baek, 
 Andy Sellars
 

 

 
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 4 December 2024
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Abstract

 

This CETaS Briefing Paper explores China’s quest for semiconductor self-sufficiency and its implications for the UK and Korean semiconductor industries. Building on an April 2024 CETaS Research Report that analysed UK-Korea cooperation on semiconductors and AI, this paper focuses on intellectual property and chip design, compound semiconductors, high-bandwidth memory chips, mature-node vulnerabilities and policy coordination. The authors’ recommendations include initiatives to: develop more detailed contingency plans in the event of Chinese oversupply in the mature-node chip market; establish a verification framework for enhanced chip security; and combine the UK’s strengths in design and IP with Korea’s strengths in manufacturing and memory devices. If the UK is to address its shortcomings in the semiconductor industry, it will need to deepen its collaboration with countries such as Korea. Much of this collaboration should focus on optimisation – a key success factor in the sector, affecting every link in the value chain.

This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 which permits unrestricted use, provided the original authors and source are credited. The license is available at: https://cre

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