The 10th annual IC Design House Survey of EE Times-China, eMedia Asia’s design engineering journal, has revealed that major IC design companies in Mainland China are using advanced 28 nm technology for chip development, while 9.2% of local fabless manufacturers have adopted ≤ 45 nm process technologies for the mass production of digital ICs.
eMedia Asia is a joint subsidiary of Global Sources. The survey also disclosed that 0.13 µm process technologies have been utilized by 27.5% of companies for the production of mixed signal ICs and by 23.2% of companies for the production of analog signal ICs. However, 0.18 and 0.35 µm process technologies continue to rule these two sectors.
EE Times-China’s publisher Brandon Smith commented that merely 20% of local IC design companies had utilized ≤ 0.25 µm process technologies in 2002 when the company began its survey, while more than 72% of their US counterparts had utilized ≤ 0.18 µm process technologies. However, the latest survey shows that Mainland China’s major chip design firms are investing more in cutting-edge technologies such as 28 nm design so that they can decrease their market-reach time and contend effectively in the global market, he added.
According to the survey, Mainland China’s top chip design firms are predicted to successfully design ICs utilizing cutting-edge 28 nm and 40 nm process technologies in the coming five years, even though 65 nm products will be the major products in the digital IC market.
Survey results also revealed that IC design firms in China are utilizing more Taiwanese foundries to back their high-integration, high-reliability and high-voltage designs. As per the survey, around 57% of ICs, produced from Mainland China, are utilized for consumer electronics products, including tablet PCs and mobile phones.
Source: http://www.globalsources.com