China to build electronics R&D infrastructure

China is reportedly close to opening a series of R&D centers to focus on product development for mobile phones, digital TV, software and semiconductors.

The country's Ministry of Information Industry is considering eight cities for the centers, according to state media. Chinese officials hope the effort will boost its ability to develop domestic IP for electronics products—one of the country's largest export categories, yet one from which it derives little added value.

"With the establishment of such bases, we hope that China can develop into an internationally competitive electronic information powerhouse instead of just a manufacturing center," MII official Wang Jianzhang said in an interview with state media. "We're developing rapidly, but we are not strong enough to seek a firm foothold in the international market right now."

Wang said the government will highlight 23 IT sectors—such as digital TV and auto electronics—as deserving special incentives in its Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), the document used by the central government to lay out policy objectives. A draft copy is due within a month or two.

Beijing has already spent about $70 million to establish seven national IC development centers, which incubate Chinese startups and train engineers fresh out of universities. The Ministry of Commerce, meanwhile, estimates that foreign companies to date have committed about $4 billion to set up 600 R&D centers in the communications, electronics, auto, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

- Mike Clendenin

EE Times