China is investing heavily in computer chips and stepping up efforts to cultivate homegrown talent as it accelerates its quest for technological self-sufficiency amid a tech trade war with the U.S.
Chinese semiconductor companies have raised the equivalent of nearly $38 billion so far this year through public offerings, private placements and asset sales, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence—more than double last year’s total.
Meantime, more than 50,000 Chinese companies have registered their businesses as related to semiconductors this year, a record that is four times the total from five years ago, according to data from corporate registration tracker Tianyancha.
These include companies with only the most tenuous of ties to the chip industry such as real-estate developers, cement makers and restaurant businesses—all of which have recast themselves as chip firms in a bid to benefit by association with a plan unveiled in August by China’s cabinet promising tax waivers and government funding.
The semiconductor surge mirrors other recent manias in China, including investment binges in electric vehicles, real estate, peer-to-peer lending and solar panels—some of which led to bubbles or irrational spending—prompting China’s top economic planner to warn about unwise business activity.
