China’s IC design industry has remained active in recent years, with the number of related companies continuing to rise. The statistics from the ICCAD showed the number of IC design companies in China reached 2,810 in 2021, compared to 2,218 in 2020, a 26.7% increase. It is worth noting there were only 1,780 local IC design companies in 2019, showing significant growth in the last two years.

In terms of size, 413 IC design companies were expected to see sales exceed CNY100 million in 2021, compared to 289 companies in 2020, for an increase of 42.9%. Sales for these 413 companies amounted to CNY328.8 billion in 2021, up from CNY305 billion the year before, accounting for 71.7% of overall industry sales.

Chinese IC design companies currently cover consumer electronics, telecommunications, computer, simulation, power, and smart card applications. Consumer electronics and telecom are the two leading revenue segments for Chinese IC design companies, with sales amounting to CNY206.6 billion and CNY103 billion, respectively, in 2021.

In the future, the semiconductor industry growth will rely more on chips for electric vehicles (EV), 5G mobile phones, the Internet of Things (IoT), and AI. There is a huge demand in China's IC application market and electronic machine industry, pushing the rapid growth of China's IC design industry.

In this paper, DIGITIMES Asia will address the development of China's top 10 publicly listed IC design companies, and outline their road to success. DIGITIMES Asia selected the 10 companies based on their sales revenue, the net profit margin in 2020, and company revenue per employee.