At Unisoc’s Shanghai showroom, China’s chip ambitions remain strong in the mature technology arena
- Unisoc exhibition showcases its achievements in mature semiconductors, including the tech team that designs its 5G chips
- Analyst says Unisoc remains relatively unscathed by US sanctions to date due to its focus on less advanced chips
Unisoc, a Shanghai-based fabless chip firm that is expanding its market share in low-end smartphone chips, is one example of how Chinese semiconductor companies can survive and perhaps even thrive under US trade sanctions.
At the company’s 2,200 square meter exhibition hall in the Zhangjiang hi-tech zone, recently visited by the South China Morning Post, Unisoc showcases its achievements, including the tech team assembled during Covid lockdowns last year that designs its 5G chips.
More than 200 engineers slept at the office for nearly three months to make the chip possible, according to a company representative, and a group photo celebrates their efforts. “There’s no superhero, just the shining [example] of many people [working] together,” according to an inscription above the photo.
The company later pushed the chip - the T820 - to market in November 2022. Unisoc subsequently launched a 5G communication solution at Mobile World Conference 2023 in Barcelona in March.
Although the US is continuing to restrict exports of advanced chips and equipment to China on national security grounds, there is still life in the domestic semiconductor industry – especially the section that focuses on more mature chip technologies.
China had 3,243 chip design firms by the end of 2022, an increase of 15 per cent from a year ago, and their combined sales were up 16 per cent in 2022, according to China’s chip design industry association.
