China to set up $16 bln integrated circuit investment firm

CHONGQING - The municipal government of Chongqing, Tsinghua Unigroup and Sino IC Capital have signed a strategic agreement to set up an integrated circuit (IC) investment firm with a registered capital of 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion).

The joint venture is expected to invest up to $100 billion in the IC manufacturing bases of Tsinghua Unigroup in the next 10 years, the Chongqing municipal government said Tuesday.

China's leading chip maker Unigroup also agreed to build an industrial park in the southwestern Chinese city with an estimated investment of over 60 billion yuan. The park will be home to its research and development center and manufacturing base of various IC products.

This is the biggest industrial investment since Chongqing became the country's fourth municipality in 1997.

Chongqing is a new electronics production case in China, with the electronics industry contributing more than 570 billion yuan, or one fourth of its industrial output in 2017.

Unigroup's industrial park in Chongqing will be able to boost the development of upstream and downstream firms and generate a total sales revenue of over 100 billion yuan annually after it goes into operation.

Sino IC Capital, which manages the China Integrated Circuit Industry Fund, will help promote more IC companies to operate in Chongqing.