China applies for 23,000 integrated circuit patents since 2008

BEIJING - China has applied for over 23,000 domestic patents on integrated circuits since 2008, an official told a press briefing Tuesday.

Over the last nine years, the country also applied for more than 2,000 international patents on integrated circuits, often known as chips, according to Ye Tianchun, head of the Institute of Microelectronics of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

In 2008, the State Council, China's cabinet, approved a major project on integrated circuits.

Since then, more than 30 Chinese-developed devices and products have entered the market, raising some of the country's tech enterprises to world-leading levels, said Ye.

The project set the country's business innovation on the right track, as China previously relied heavily on imported integrated circuit products, said Chen Chuanhong, an official at the CAS.

"When our chips thrive, our economy will also prosper," he added.