SMIC founder says ‘optimistic’ China can catch up with U.S. in semiconductors

SHANGHAI: The founder of China’s largest chipmaker SMIC said on Tuesday he was “optimistic” China could catch up with the United States in the next generation of semiconductors but that U.S. efforts to contain its technology sector could not be taken “lightly”.

Richard Chang, also the former CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), told a livestream forum that persistent research and development as well as investment in new raw materials would enable China to compete, according to an official transcript on Wednesday.