According to statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry, from January to October this year, mainland China has produced 199.5 billion semiconductor discrete devices, a year-on-year increase of 12.0%, and product sales revenue increased by 20.0% year-on-year, reaching 72 billion yuan. It is expected that by the end of this year, the output will reach about 250 billion units, and product sales revenue will reach 86.5 billion yuan. From 2004 to 2007, the sales revenue of local semiconductor discrete device products in mainland China has a compound annual growth rate of 27.8%. It is expected that in 2008, under the promising prospects of China's electronics manufacturing industry, it will grow at a rate of 18.0%, and product sales revenue will reach US$13.43 billion (see Figure 1).
In 2007, mainland China's semiconductor discrete devices still showed the characteristics of "large imports and large exports". Imports were far greater than exports, and the import value was 1.7 times the export value. However, its local production and export capabilities are improving year by year. According to customs statistics, from January to October 2007, mainland China's imports of semiconductor discrete devices totaled US$12.655 billion. Based on this growth rate, it will reach US$15.186 billion by the end of this year, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%. At the same time, the total export volume from January to October was 7.783 billion U.S. dollars. Based on this growth rate, it will reach 9.34 billion U.S. dollars by the end of this year, a year-on-year increase of 52.1% (the import and export volume here includes all trade methods and the re-import of domestic products, See Figure 2). The average import price is US$0.055, and the average export price is US$0.038.
Among the imported semiconductor discrete devices from January to October, the largest import amount was power transistors, accounting for 30% of the total imports, followed by photosensitive semiconductor devices and light-emitting diodes, accounting for 23.8%, and diodes (except photosensitive diodes or light-emitting diodes) and assembled piezoelectric crystals accounted for 16.3% and 13% of total imports respectively. The fastest growing import was assembled piezoelectric crystals, with a growth rate of 21.8% (see Figure 3). Among the exported semiconductor discrete devices from January to October, photosensitive semiconductor devices and light-emitting diodes accounted for 50.6% of the total exports, followed by ordinary diodes, accounting for 14.4% of the total exports.
If the re-importation of domestic goods is deducted and the processing of supplied materials and re-export trade are not considered, the import and export volumes in 2007 were US$9.21 and US$5.42 billion respectively. The total application scale of semiconductor discrete devices in mainland China in 2007 should be US$15.17 billion, an increase from 2006 9.3%. It is expected that the total application scale will increase by 13% in 2008, reaching 17 billion US dollars.
The driving force behind the growth of China's demand for semiconductor discrete devices mainly comes from the three major fields of computers and peripherals, consumer electronics and communications, while display screens, automotive electronics, electronic lighting and medical electronics are the fastest growing fields.
