Rapid Advance: High Technology in China in the Global Electronic Age

Abstract

This study examines how a critical high technology industry in China, the semiconductor industry, advanced from being an isolated, centrally planned industry in the mid 1980s to being an important participant in the competitive global semiconductor industry after 2000. The research examines the most important trends, projects, and enterprises in China, with attention to China's global partners and China's rapidly growing role in the world economy. In the 1990s, semiconductor enterprises in China proactively made key structural changes and global linkages that set the stage for the industry's growth after 2000. The study thus provides an industry level assessment of how reforms and technological upgrading occurred in contemporary China, including the degree and character of so-called state led development. This research also shows that the development of this high technology industry had direct and positive effects on China's larger business environment and trade policies. Finally, this study compares the development of the semiconductor industry in China with its development in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, identifying differences in national approaches and the effects of the global information revolution