Over the past few years, Chinese enterprises have increased their investment in the chip industry year by year. China had 416,000 enterprises engaged in chip-related sectors as of July 2022, China Media Group (CMG) reported. 

Among them, 68,000 enterprises were newly registered from January to July 2022, with an average monthly growth of 41.6 percent, according to CMG. As of July 2022, 26.8 percent of Chinese chip-related companies had been established within the previous year. 

With the growing market for new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China, many enterprises have stepped into the sector to produce chips urgently needed for NEVs.

AI smart chips in production

At a chip manufacturer in Puyang City, central China's Henan Province, five production lines for artificial intelligent (AI) smart chips that have just been put into operation are ramping up production.

By the beginning of this month, the enterprise had already lined up orders to the end of the year.

"Now we mainly produce chips for smart city operation and maintenance. In order to get their products in time, many of our customers place orders some time in advance," said Zhang Hongpai, chairman of the board of the chip manufacturing company in Puyang.

A chip manufacturer at the Xuzhou National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, east China's Jiangsu Province, is running its production lines at full capacity to produce a high-power organic passivation chip, which is mainly used in new energy vehicle power controllers.

"We used to produce [chips] for traditional fuel vehicles, so we are a newcomer to the sector of NEVs. It's also an opportunity for us," said Dai Lizhong, operation director of the chip manufacturing company.

Yang Hao, production manager of a chip manufacturer in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, told CMG that his company has been continuously improving production capacity over the past few years.

"Last year, our daily production capacity was 580,000 pieces, while this year the number has increased to 720,000. According to the plan, we will increase it to 800,000 pieces per day next year," Yang said.

As orders from automakers pour in, the chip manufacturer in Shenzhen is operating its production capacity at nearly 100 percent. It has also imported manufacturing equipment to expand production lines and increase capacity, so as to complete deliveries in time.