China has created an investment fund with a charter capital of $47.5 billion for state support of local semiconductor manufacturers. This is reported by the Reuters agency.
The fund was created in order to achieve self-sufficiency in China with microchips.
The US has been restricting the supply of technology and microchips to China for the past few years due to fears that Chinese companies can use them to increase the country's military potential.
The creation of the so-called large fund for microchips took place in three stages and began as early as 2014.
China's Ministry of Finance became the largest shareholder of the “large fund” with a 17% share. China Development Bank Capital – the second-largest shareholder with a 10.5% stake.
Seventeen other entities are listed as investors, including five major Chinese banks, each contributing about 6% of the total capital.
The fund has already provided financing to two of China's largest microchip factories, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and Hua Hong Semiconductor, as well as Yangtze Memory Technologies, a flash memory manufacturer, and a number of smaller companies and foundations.
One of the main one of the sectors on which the fund's work will be focused is investment in equipment for the production of chips.