New policies to support the expansion of China's fledgling chip industry would be published by April next year at the latest, Xinhua said.

The government last month agreed to scrap preferential value-added tax rebates for domestic semiconductor manufacturers after the United States lodged a complaint at the World Trade Organization claiming discrimination against foreign chipmakers.

Xinhua said the new policies would comply with WTO rules, but would include tax breaks for research and development, soft loans and support for training.

(Shenzhen Daily August 16, 2004)