An AI-generated image of a chip Photo: VCG

For China's chip industry, 2025 turned out to be a great year. 

This week, several A-share-listed semiconductor makers released earnings estimates for 2025, with some expecting massive growth in earnings. For example, BIWIN Storage, an integrated storage R&D, packaging and testing company, estimated that net profit attributable to shareholders reached 850 million yuan to 1 billion yuan, representing a growth of 427.19 percent to 520.22 percent year-on-year.

This might be just a reflection of a more profound trend. 

"Over the past few years, we have made substantial progress in technology research and development, production line construction, and ecosystem development, and the gap with international advanced levels is narrowing rapidly," Wei Shaojun, deputy secretary-general of the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), told the Global Times in a recent exclusive interview.

Overcoming pressure

This progress comes despite the US' relentless campaign to crack down on China's chip industry, by both restricting sales of US chips and even other countries' chipmaking tools to Chinese firms, as well as containing the rise of Chinese chip exports.

Evidently, that did not stop China's chip industry from growing. If anything, it has bolstered it. 

"Blockades cannot stop progress; they will only inspire a stronger determination to innovate independently," Wei said. 

And that strong determination is reflected in steady development in various aspects of the Chinese chip industry. 

In the memory segment, Montage Technology estimated that net profit attributable to shareholders reached 2.15 billion yuan to 2.35 billion yuan, up 52.29 percent to 66.46 percent year-on-year. In printed circuit board, Victory Giant Technology Co estimated net profit attributable to shareholders at 4.16 billion yuan to 4.56 billion yuan, up 260.35 percent to 295.00 percent year-on-year, according to the Securities Daily. 

Overall, since 2025, A-share IPO activity in the semiconductor sector has picked up markedly. According to incomplete statistics, 38 semiconductor companies have launched A-share IPOs so far, seeking nearly 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) in total fundraising, with an average of about 2.6 billion yuan per company, according to the 21st Century Business Herald. 

The companies cover a wide range of fields such as radio frequency front-end chips, electronic components, conductive materials, semiconductor equipment parts, analog chips and micro-module products, per the report. 

Beyond the stock market, the rise of China's chip industry is also reflected on the production lines. In 2025, the added value of the integrated circuit manufacturing industry increased by 26.7 percent year-on-year. In terms of products, the rapid development of "artificial intelligence+" has driven the output of memory chips and servers to increase by 22.8 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. 

Against the backdrop of the US restrictions, localization, self-reliance and import substitution have become the core themes underpinning the rapid development of China's semiconductor industry in recent years, Wei said. 

With the rapid development of China's semiconductor industry, the US, on top of its restrictions on the sale of advanced chips to Chinese firms, is also planning to impose new tariffs on semiconductor starting in 2027, according to media reports. 

Wei said that the move is, in essence, still weaponizing trade and economic policy tools in an attempt to maintain technological hegemony. "This decision is not based on any current harm caused by China's semiconductor industry to the US, but rather to prevent the future development of China's semiconductor industry from shaking America's dominant position," he said, adding that the planned tariffs will backfire on the US itself. 

"This move by the US not only exacerbates the fragmentation of the global semiconductor supply chain, but will also backfire on its own downstream industries through cost transmission, truly amounting to 'damaging others while harming oneself.' Historical experience has repeatedly proven that closure will not bring lasting leadership; only through openness and cooperation can fertile ground be nurtured for sustained innovation, achieving genuine win-win outcomes," Wei said.

Solid confidence

Notably, the industry leader expressed strong confidence in the development of China's semiconductor industry going forward, despite the US' crackdown measures.

"China's semiconductor industry will never provoke trouble, but it fears nothing even less," Wei said. 

Such confidence is backed by the vast potential of China's semiconductor industry, thanks to various major policy initiatives aimed at bolstering self-reliance in core technologies. 

The recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) underscored the need to improve the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide and adopt unconventional measures to drive decisive breakthroughs in core technologies across entire chains in key fields such as integrated circuits, industrial machine tools, high-end equipment, basic software, advanced materials, and biomanufacturing.

As the country puts heavy emphasis on self-reliance amid growing external risks, domestic semiconductors will have vast potential for growth. 

Soochow Securities noted that capital spending on advanced process nodes continues to rise in this cycle and coupled with a steadily higher localization rate of equipment, domestic semiconductor equipment makers are entering a historic window of opportunity. New order growth is expected to exceed 30 percent and could reach above 50 percent, according to Securities Times.

With confidence comes openness. Even as China's semiconductor industry focuses on self-reliance, it remains open to win-win cooperation with partners from around the world, Wei said. 

"We are willing to work with our global partners to uphold our original aspirations in the industry, reject political interference, respect the objective laws of industrial development and technological progress, and jointly build an open, integrated, secure, and trustworthy global semiconductor future," he said.