Value of chip industry booms as Xiaomi unveils super small micro chip

CGTN Europe

The value of the chip industry exceeded $180 million in 2024 with experts saying it will be nearer $300 million by 2030.  CGTN Europe’s Juliet Mann speaks to Rob Enderle, President and Principal Analyst of Enderle Group,about the latest developments with all the tech heavyweights unveiling new models.

Transcript

00:00China is the world's top semiconductor consumer and now it's accelerating efforts to become

00:05self-sufficient. Last year, $47 billion in investment was raised as part of the so-called

00:12Big Fund, which aims to bolster the semiconductor industry and reduce reliance on other nations.

00:19While the value of China's chip industry was more than $180 million in 2024,

00:25and experts say that will reach close to $300 million by 2030. But one stumbling block for

00:32China has been this, extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUVs. The machines help to

00:38reduce smaller, more powerful chips. Well, currently there's only one supplier for chip production

00:44equipment, ASML, from the Netherlands, but it's been barred from selling its most advanced models

00:50to China, under pressure from the United States. A breakthrough was made in China in March,

00:55domestic EUV system. It's been tested by Huawei and could come into production next year.

01:01Experts say it could be a game changer. Xiaomi's 3NM chip is also a significant milestone.

01:08It's just the fourth company globally to achieve this, and the first from China.

01:12And Huawei has also developed an advanced AI chip, the new Ascend processor.

01:17It's most powerful yet, and it's seen as a true competitor to the US giant NVIDIA.

01:23And talking of NVIDIA, well, its CEO says the US curbs on chip exports that were meant to hurt China

01:29have actually hurt the US more, and instead accelerated Beijing's efforts to pursue

01:34greater domestic innovation. Back to you, Juliette.

01:38Thanks, Shafoor.

01:40Well, Rob Enderlay is president and principal analyst of Enderlay Group.

01:43Thanks for coming on the program. Now, first of all, what do these tiny chips do that other chips can't?

01:51Well, basically, as you pointed out, they're really small. They're very power efficient and very powerful.

01:57This new Xiaomi chip is in line with the best from Qualcomm and recognized that they weren't even on the

02:04roadmap a couple of years back. So that's a massive move in terms of competitiveness over a very short

02:09period of time.

02:11And this launch from Xiaomi, I mean, how much of a big deal is it not just for the company, but for China

02:15and for the rest of the world?

02:17Well, it showcases that China is moving very quickly, far more quickly than the rest of the world is moving,

02:22largely as a result of being forced to do so because of the tariffs and blocks on US technology going to China

02:29and China technology coming out to the West. That has driven China to over execute, if you can use that as a term.

02:37And the end result is across a number and your coverage covered a lot of this across a number of areas from

02:43automotive to computers. China is not only coming up to parity, they're moving ahead very rapidly.

02:49So what you're saying is that we're seeing a potential shift in global chip manufacturing power dynamics.

02:55We are. The only thing that's limiting that shift are the barriers to moving technology between China

03:04and the West, largely sponsored by the US. But as the US's influence has waned, China's has increased

03:10and those blockades aren't going to last much longer.

03:14It's interesting, isn't it? You talk about those blockades, you know, NVIDIA's boss saying that those

03:18US curbs on chip exports that were meant to hurt China are actually going to hurt the US more.

03:23What's your take? I agree. What this has done is driven the Chinese government to fix their lack

03:31of competitiveness in these technologies. Rather than buying from the US, they're building their own

03:36with massive financial backing. And they've closed gaps that people thought were unclosable in a matter

03:42of months. So it's frightening how quick they're going. And it's also frightening how little concern

03:48the West seems to have at the moment. Okay, so the US and China seem to be owning this space.

03:54But what about Europe and other burgeoning tech hubs like maybe India? Have they all left it too late

04:00to get in the game? Possibly. The sheer momentum that China is showing makes it very difficult without

04:08similar levels of government funding for anybody else to catch up. And Western governments just haven't

04:14been all that interested in funding development efforts like this. So right now, it's China's

04:19government is actually driving a level of development and advancement that the other countries appear

04:23to be unwilling to match. And that's problematic.

04:26Rob Enderlay, it's been great getting your insights. That's Rob Enderlay, president and principal

04:30analyst at Enderlay Group.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended