To win the chip war, China needs a multinational strategy

China's role in the global semiconductor industry is evolving, with the nation seeing a near doubling of its chip exports in the first half of this year. These exports largely consist of mature logic integrated circuits, crucial for consumer electronics and the automotive sectors. This surge highlights China's growing strength in the mass market for legacy chips, even as the United States maintains its lead in the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

The central processing unit (CPU) segment, the 'brain' of computers, is emerging as a key battleground. Historically dominated by Intel and AMD, this area is seeing Chinese firms rapidly closing the gap. Experts believe this segment offers China a more realistic opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency in the coming years, marking a potential shift in global semiconductor leadership.

Memory chips, a segment where East Asian companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix currently dominate two-thirds of the global dynamic random access memory (DRAM) market, also present an area of focus for China. While US-based Micron holds a distant third place, China's ChangXin Memory Technologies is steadily increasing its market share and is poised for a Shanghai listing. This indicates China's strategic push to gain ground in critical areas of the semiconductor supply chain.