Feb. 7, 2006 (China Knowledge) – Analysys International, a leading Internet-based business information service provider, said in a report that China’s IC (integrated circuit) market size grew to RMB 368.28 billion in 2005 and that Chinese IC manufacturers need to improve.

According to the report, China's IC market maintained steady growth in the second and third quarters and by the end of the fourth quarter, the total market size reached RMB 368.28 billion. The industrial market accounted for 21% of the total IC market. Overseas manufacturers provided about 80% of China's IC products.

It said that China's IC industry needs technology innovation and more qualified personnel. Zhao Yazhou, an analyst from Analysys International, says, ''The total sales of China's IC design sector accounted for only 3% of the global market, China's IC patents accounted for less than 4% of the global total. Semiconductor materials and equipment are still the bottleneck of the development of China's IC manufacturing industry. Over 95% of equipment and 8-inch plus silicon wafers are imported. Advanced packaging technology and materials are still the barrier of the IC packaging industry. Chinese firms have almost no capability to produce BGA and CSP packaging boards, and there has been no progress in MCP and SIP, either.''

BGA is a ball grid array, which is a type of surface-mount packaging used for ICs, while CSP, chip scale packaging, is a ball grid array with 0.8 mm or less pitch. MCP stands for Multi-chip package, a process in electronics where two die are included in one IC package. SIP, a single in-line package is an electronic device package which has one row of connecting pins.