China will give top priority to the development of its microelectronics industry in the coming decade, according to Wu Jichuan, minister of Information Industry.
The minister said China will continue to create sound conditions for investment in the industry, open wider to the outside world for faster development, and take advantage of resources at home and abroad.
In a recent speech at a seminar on the information technology and micro-electronics, the minister said China lags far behind developed countries in the microelectronics industry, and it remains a top priority for China to speed up the development of the industry.
Wu said the role of the market will be given full play in the coming decade while preferential policies will be introduced to boost the development of the industry.
A number of measures will be taken to enable China's micro- electronic industry to acquire stronger and independent innovation capability, scale of economy and occupy a position in the world microelectronics industry, said the minister.
The measures include reorganization of the industry, technological innovation, construction of industrial parks and investment in major micro-electronics projects.
Wu said Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian, where the industry grows faster than other parts of the country, should improve their independent innovation capacity, concentrate their efforts on development of new products, and expand their capacity for chip processing and circuit encapsulation and testing.
(People's Daily 07/11/2001)