According to the data of the US Department of Commerce, China's average annual imports of electronic semiconductor components from 2015 to 2017 is approximately US$10 billion.
However, from the actual situation in China, the data is much higher than this.
Excluding Broadcom, according to the 2017 fiscal year data of various semiconductor companies, sales of Intel, Qualcomm, Micron, Texas Instruments and Western Digital in China were US$14.796 billion, US$14.579 billion, US$103.88 billion, and US$6.6 billion, respectively. And 7.528 billion US dollars. Only the above five companies, total exports to China will exceed 50 billion US dollars.
Export data identification
How many integrated circuits (or semiconductors) do the United States export to China each year? For this issue, industry experts gave their opinions to reporters.
'China's annual purchase of semiconductors from the United States is certainly more than 100 billion U.S. dollars, which is more than the sum of aircraft and soybeans. It is the largest commodity. China is the world's largest market for semiconductor imports, and the United States is the largest supplier of semiconductors. This data is wrong. ' Gu Wenjun, chief analyst of the core research said. According to the analysis of the core research, China's imports of integrated circuits from the United States amounted to more than 120 billion US dollars.
But why are the statistics between China and the United States so different?
Wei Shaojun, director of the Department of Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with a reporter from the First Finance Bureau that this is mainly due to the fact that the two sides have different definitions of origin. He explained that this has always been controversial in the semiconductor field. 'The United States has always insisted that The package is the place of origin. If the package is completed in Malaysia (re-import to China), even Malaysia exports to China, not the United States to China. 'He thinks this statistical model is very unreasonable because in the chip industry chain, the package Only a small part of the value. 'Early ten years ago, we debated this issue at the World Semiconductor Council meeting. At that time, the five members of China, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, including Chinese Taipei, agreed that they should look Where is the place where the highest added value is in chip production? Where is the place of origin? Only the United States opposes it. The United States considers where it is packaged, so the statistics of the United States I think is unreasonable.
Wei Shaojun believes that another more reasonable way is to look at the chip company, 'if you look at the brand, China's imported semiconductors must be the most US brand'.
In terms of statistical methods and channels, there are other differences. Gu Wenjun said, 'Some American companies ordering production in China's Taiwan, manufacturing and re-exporting to mainland China are considered to be exported to Taiwan, even if the final chip enters the mainland market.' According to the company's procurement site, 'Actually, many companies have their headquarters in Singapore and they think that they are exporting to Singapore. In fact, the chip is finally in mainland China. ' In addition, there are also some agents who count, 'This channel is quite Difficult to count, but we estimate that basically every year, about 120 billion US dollars of integrated circuits are exported from the United States to China, and there are more possibilities for more than 120 billion and even more than 150 billion US dollars.
Wei Shaojun pointed out that China and the United States should form a unified standard on this issue. 'We can't talk nonsense. I feel a bit nonsense now. Who is the biggest beneficiary? It must be the brand owner.'
Semiconductor has zero tariff
In the face of the continuing tight Sino-U.S. trade situation, not only Chinese companies, including Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, etc., have also felt the pressure.
Intel executives told the CBN reporter: 'We don't know what products will be affected, but we think that, under normal circumstances, tariffs are a problem for U.S. companies that have global supply chains. We hope that the U.S. government will provide an opinion period. When we have more information, we will assess the potential impact. '
Qualcomm President Christiano Amon had previously told reporters that Qualcomm’s chip business from Chinese OEMs in fiscal year 2017 was twice revenue from Apple’s revenue, and Qualcomm came from Chinese OEMs. The compound annual growth rate of revenue reached 17%. In 2015, this figure was 4 billion US dollars. Last year was 6 billion US dollars, and Qualcomm is expected to reach 8 billion US dollars in 2019.
Wei Shaojun said that if the trade friction between China and the United States really starts in the semiconductor industry, the United States should lose more than China. 'If this happens, I think the US semiconductor industry itself should be firmly opposed to this matter. They may More urgent than we go against this matter. '
In his view, because this time it is necessary to raise tariffs, the United States exports the most semiconductors to China, and China exports very few integrated circuits to the United States. Moreover, if China exports to the United States, it must be a U.S. enterprise set up in China. The factory, or processing in China, then returned to the United States, then this approach must be harmful to US companies. 'On the IC, China is not a big exporter.' Wei Shaojun pointed out.
Gu Wenjun believes that semiconductors have zero tariffs and the United States will not make any fuss about semiconductors. 'Of course, if China is allowed to buy more products from the United States, the amount of imports will increase even though it is possible, but it will be difficult to increase too much. On the one hand, capacity is limited. On the other hand, the United States has involved some high-end or military-type chips that are not sold to China.