China’s Beijing Municipal Education Commission on February 19 announced the launch of the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Integrated Circuits (集成电路高精尖创新中心), with the premium talent pool formed by China’s top two universities Tsinghua University and Peking University to be tapped into.

You Zheng and Huang Ru were appointed to be the heads of the center. You Zheng is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a former vice president of Tsinghua University, and currently present of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Huang Ru is the current president of Southeast University, a former vice president of Peking University, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She earned her master's degree in electronic engineering in 1994.

The intiative Made in China 2025 (《中国制造2025》) announced in 2015 has aimed to lift the country's chip production from less than 10% of demand at the time to 40% in 2020 and 70% in 2025.

With the global semiconductor shortage showing no sign of abating in the recent two years, China's low domestic supply has appeared even more suffocatingly severe. And the U.S. strategy of targeting China's access to chips has made self-reliance a pressing issue for the country.

The establishment of the national center for integrated circuits demonstrates the government’s determination to conquer it.