China’s chipmakers saw a 2,850% jump in first-half profits, suggesting Beijing’s efforts to build a domestic semiconductor industry are starting to pay off.
The momentum was further bolstered by the blockbuster listing of memory chipmaker CXMT, seen as China’s best hope of building self-sufficiency.
CXMT’s stock soared 466% on debut, while shares in Dutch tech giant ASML sank on a report that a Chinese state-backed company is starting to mass-produce lithography machines — another technological breakthrough for Beijing.
With AI models now rivaling those from leading US labs, and abundant energy supplies, China is demonstrating its ability to overcome an AI compute shortage triggered by Washington’s chip export controls, as it wrings greater efficiencies from less-advanced hardware.
