Software and chip firms get more support

China remained the world's largest importer of ICs last year, with the total volume of imports reaching $312 billion, up by 19.8 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said in a signed article in July that there are potential risks in industry security in the sectors of IC and basic software.

Manufacturers in the two sectors are restricted to the lower end of the global value chain and the security of their industry and supply chain cannot be guaranteed, he said.

In a guideline on promoting the growth of the sector in 2014, the State Council had set a target of making the country into a global leader in major links of the IC sector by 2030.

The guideline called for efforts to enable accelerated growth in the design, manufacturing, packaging and testing of the IC sector, with a national IC industry fund also set up to promote growth of the sector.

Han noted that the large number of IC imports underlined the country's weakness in the sector.

However, it is also important to keep in mind the demand in IC is behind the fact that China is also the world's largest manufacturer of electronics and made-in-China products have been supplying the global demand, he said.

"Thus, it is impossible to set a target of self-reliance in the sector," he said.