New Characteristics in the Development of the World's Electronic Information Industry and Strategy Issues Concerning the Development of China's Electronic Information Industry

Abstract

The foundation of world's electronic information industry is the development of integrated circuit technology, but the industry has fully completed the transition to microelectronics. In 1988, total world sales of integrated circuits exceeded $33.7 billion. The distinction between equipment and components, established through several generations of electronic technology based on discrete components, is becoming increasingly blurred. Hundreds of thousands and even millions of components can now fit in a microchip. Equipment technology is fusing with component technology to put whole systems on single chips, thus greatly improving the price/performance ratios, quality and reliability of products, and also significantly reducing energy consumption and product size, thereby creating a brand new generation of microelectronic products. Technological upgrading is accelerating and product lifecycles are shortening. The world's electronic information industry is entering a new era of rapid development and is increasingly driven by R&D. The widespread use of automation in design and manufacturing and of flexible manufacturing systems has greatly reduced the time between product research and mass production.