Technology and change in the Chinese electronics industry

Abstract

A wide-ranging study of the technological capability of the mainland China electronics industry has been conducted. The study reveals that the Chinese industry is driven to improve technologically mainly by foreign technology transfer, though local process innovation has been observed that can improve the output of foreign process technology. Surface mount manufacturing technology is common in China, and can be near state-of-the-art. Integrated circuit (IC) technology lags world trends by more than five years. The rate of improvement in technology and output of the mainland China electronics industry suggests that mainland China is likely to rival South Korea, Taiwan, and even Japan as a major Asian force in the world industry in the twenty-first century.