Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China's biggest and most advanced chipmaker, made its debut on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market on July 16, just 46 days after the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which runs the STAR Market, accepted the company's application for initial public offering (IPO).

The speed of listing reflects how China has pinned high hopes on building a domestic semiconductor industry.

The chip-making champion is running two integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing bases in Zhejiang province, situated in Shaoxing's Yuecheng district and Ningbo's Beilun district, which are expected to benefit the province's entire IC industrial chain, including IC design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing. 

To date, Zhejiang has around 500 IC-related firms, nearly 200 of which are above designated size. The sales revenue of Zhejiang's IC sector stood at 70.1 billion yuan ($10 billion) in 2019, up 20 percent from the previous year. Over the first five months of this year, the output and the sales in Zhejiang's IC sector respectively rose by 31.9 percent and 13.4 percent year-on-year, overcoming the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The listing of SMIC obviously has had an effect on the development of China's IC industry," said Yan Xiaolang, director of the Zhejiang Semiconductor Industry Association. He revealed that several IC firms in Zhejiang are also looking to go public soon.