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China's legacy chipmakers to get a boost from anti-dumping probe into US suppliers

Daniel Nenni

Admin
Staff member
China's legacy chip companies are set to gain from the latest escalation in the US-China tech war, as Beijing's latest anti-dumping investigation targets analogue chipmakers from the US.

The Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday the import volume of US mature mode integrated circuit (IC) chips subject to the investigation increased 37 per cent from 2022 to 2024, but the import price decreased 52 per cent in the same period, which had "lowered and suppressed the sales prices of domestic products".

The investigation, the latest episode in the ongoing US-China tech war, came before a scheduled meeting between the delegations of the two countries in Spain on Sunday.

Analysts expected the investigation, which would last for at least one year, to affect the sales of major US analogue chip companies like Texas Instruments and Analog Devices on the mainland and give a boost to their Chinese rivals.

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Semiconductor chips are manufactured at a microelectronics enterprise in Haian, Jiangsu province. Photo: VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Zhang Guobin, founder of the Chinese semiconductor industry website eetrend.com, said domestic companies like Silergy, SGMicro, Southchip Semiconductor Technology, Joulwatt Technology, and Novosense Microelectronics would benefit from the investigation.

Analogue chips, which process real-world signals like sound, temperature and light by varying voltage and current within their circuits, were an important part of ICs, accounting for around 15 per cent of total sales of the global semiconductor market in 2024, according to data from World Semiconductor Trade Statistics and Frost & Sullivan.

These chips generally use more mature process nodes - such as those between 90 nanometres and 300nm - due to redesign costs and specific analogue requirements like lower noise as opposed to leading-edge nodes. They are mostly used in applications like power management, audio equipment, communication systems, sensors and automotive systems.

China was the world's largest consumer of analogue chips, with demand expanding rapidly over the past few years amid emerging applications such as electric vehicles, 5G communications and Internet of Things, according to a recent report by the Chinese research institute Chyxx.
China's investigation was expected to create a healthier development environment for domestic analogue chipmakers, said Zhang from eetrend.com.

These companies were mostly fabless chipmakers that had been subject to increased pressure to control costs compared with international integrated device manufacturers, which were able to handle the entire chipmaking process from design and manufacturing to sales under one roof, he added.

China's analogue chip market was estimated to reach US$44 billion in 2025 and continue to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 8.3 per cent over the next five years, thanks to "rising cloud adoption, increasing availability of high-speed connectivity and growing adoption of IoT devices", according to a report published in May by research firm Mordor Intelligence.

 
the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Commerce) received an anti-dumping investigation application formally submitted by the Jiangsu Semiconductor Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as the Applicant) on behalf of the domestic analog chip industry.
...
The universal interface chips under investigation include:

1. Controller Area Network (CAN) interface transceiver chips that comply with the ISO11898 standard, used for sending and receiving signals between systems in automobiles and other industrial products;

2. RS485 interface transceiver chip that complies with TIA/EIA-485 standard, used for sending and receiving signals between various devices in industrial systems;

3. A bidirectional, two-wire synchronous serial bus ( I2C ) interface chip based on a low-speed serial bus method using serial data lines and serial clock lines . It is used for switching and expanding signal buffer relay channels between various boards or chips in the device.

4. Digital isolator chips that comply with the International Electrotechnical Commission IEC 60747-5-2 standard, used for insulated communication between high- and low-voltage systems in automobiles and other industrial products, or for enhancing communication anti-interference performance;

5. Other general-purpose interface chips that are compatible with the above types.
...
The gate driver chips under investigation include:

1. Low-Side Gate Driver IC Chip;

2. Half-Bridge/Multi-Channel Gate Driver IC Chip;

3.Isolated Gate Driver IC Chip.

The gate driver chips under investigation have the following functions: 1. Convert the low-voltage signal of the controller into a drive signal with higher voltage or larger current to achieve stable conduction and shutdown of power devices; 2. Provide transient source and sink current to increase the switching speed of power devices and reduce switching losses.

The general-purpose interface chips and gate driver chips under investigation include finished chips and wafers and grains that can be used to produce chips with the same functions, as well as products with the same functions to be developed in the future.
...
The investigation will begin on September 13, 2025 and should normally be completed before September 13, 2026. It may be extended by 6 months in special circumstances.
 
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