China stresses high-quality development in integrated circuits and software

Policies will be made to further optimize the development environment of the integrated circuit industry and the software industry, deepen international cooperation in the industries and enhance their innovation capabilities and development quality, according to a State Council circular released on Aug 4.

There are many preferential tax policies. For example, integrated circuit production enterprises or projects with an integrated circuit line width less than 28 nanometers (inclusive) and have an operating period of more than 15 years are exempt from corporate income tax from the first to the 10th year.

The conditions and coverage of such preferential income tax policies will be adjusted according to the technology progress of the industries.

Preferential value-added tax policies for integrated circuit companies and software companies will be continued.

Within a certain period of time, manufacturers of logic circuits and memory with integrated circuit line widths less than 65 nanometers (inclusive) are exempt from import tariffs when importing production raw materials, consumables and other integrated circuit parts for their own use.

In addition, major integrated circuit projects are allowed to pay import value-added tax in installments when importing new equipment.

Integrated circuit companies and software companies are encouraged to strengthen resource integration, and existing national and local government funds should be fully used to support the development of the integrated circuit industry and software industry.

Local governments are encouraged to establish loan risk compensation mechanisms to help integrated circuit companies and software companies obtain commercial loans through intellectual property pledge financing and other means.

Commercial financial institutions should further improve financial services and enhance support for medium and long-term loans to the integrated circuit and software industries. Qualified integrated circuit and software companies will be supported to list and raise funds at home and abroad, as well as list on the science and technology innovation board and the growth enterprise market.

More attention will be paid to the research and development of key technologies in many fields, such as high-end chips, integrated circuit equipment and technology and industrial software. More platforms for innovation will also be built.

The export of integrated circuits, software and information technology services will be promoted to develop international service outsourcing business.

In terms of education, more efforts will be made to develop integrated circuit and software learning and cultivate high-end talent. Universities are encouraged to cooperate with enterprises to build demonstrative schools of microelectronics. Such schools will be supported to introduce international educational resources by cooperating with prestigious foreign universities and international companies.

Enterprises are encouraged to register exclusive rights in layout designs and software copyrights, which will be further protected in the current internet environment in China. All computers sold in the country must be pre-installed with copyrighted software, otherwise they are not allowed to be sold.

More efforts will be made to promote integrated circuits and software innovative products through policy and market application, so as to push continuous technology and industry upgrade, and the agglomeration development of the industries.

Measures will be taken to strengthen anti-monopoly law enforcement for fair competition in the integrated circuit and software industries.

Global cooperation in these industries was also mentioned. Chinese enterprises are encouraged to go abroad, build research and development centers overseas, and make further use of international innovative resources.