China's overall IC production capacity will continue to expand in 2020 as both IDMs and foundry houses there have readied expansion plans covering 4-, 6-, 8- and 12-inch wafer fabs and will enter 14nm node next year, according to Digitimes Research.
The capacity expansion plans are driven by the mounting demand for logic ICs, memory chips, power chips and analog ICs for 5G and IoT applications in China, as well as the government's aggressive push for pursuing IC self-sufficiency, Digitimes Research noted.
Both IDMs and foundry firms have seen some of their new fabs start commercial runs in 2019, with some more to kick off volume production of new products or technologies in 2020, when new capacity expansion plans will also be implemented.
Meanwhile, the adoption of 14nm node, mass production of 3D NAND flash chips, and growing demand for power devices and analog ICs for IoT applications all serve to prompt Chinese IDMs and foundry houses to strengthen deployments in 2020 in both mature and special process nodes, whether at 12-inch, 8-inch or lower-inch wafer fabs.