How to break the impasse for domestically produced chips amid the fierce tariff war

As the Sino-US trade friction continues to heat up, the semiconductor industry is experiencing an unprecedented tariff shock. From the initial 34% to the current 125% tariff increase, semiconductor devices, as core import and export products, are the first to bear the brunt. The import channel for US-related chips has narrowed sharply, and the domestic chip industry has faced the test of the front line of the tariff war. Although the US Customs urgently adjusted the tariff on April 11, 2025, implementing a "reciprocal tariff" exemption policy for nearly a thousand commodities including automatic data processors, communication equipment, and semiconductors, this did not eliminate the long-standing supply chain risks. Instead, it sounded the alarm for domestic semiconductor companies to strengthen independent innovation.

Tariff Station

Local substitution demand creates new opportunities for the industry

At present, the import and export of products of major domestic wafer manufacturing companies in the United States, including GlobalFoundries, Intel, Micron, Texas Instruments (TI), etc., are significantly affected by the new regulations. This has created a rare market substitution window for domestic chip companies. From the perspective of the domestic industrial structure, local manufacturers such as Loongson, Huawei HiSilicon, Feiteng, Haiguang, Zhaoxin, and Shenwei are actively deploying key areas such as CPU, GPU, and storage chips with years of technological accumulation, and are expected to gradually fill the market gap left by the withdrawal of American chips. However, to achieve complete substitution, it is still necessary to break through technical bottlenecks, especially in chip design, research and development, and manufacturing process links.

Semiconductor Chip Association

Core technology path for precise substitution

Taking the LTM4644 chip of Analog Devices (ADI) as an example, this four-channel DC/DC step-down power management chip is widely used in high-end electronic devices with high efficiency, high current output, multi-voltage configuration and low noise characteristics. Domestic companies such as Guoke Anxin (ASP4644A3B) and Qixing Huachuang (HCE4644MLMB) have started benchmarking research and development. In the replacement process, accurate determination of chip technical parameters is a key prerequisite: it is necessary to establish a parameter matrix including more than 50 core indicators such as input and output voltage range, load regulation rate, ripple noise level, conversion efficiency curve, etc. through reverse engineering analysis, original device performance mapping, application scenario adaptability testing and other means.

Domestic chip parameters

Automated testing builds a quality assurance system

In addition to R&D and manufacturing process upgrades, stable and reliable test verification is a necessary link to achieve domestic substitution. Taking the domestic automated testing platform ATECLOUD as an example, its dedicated test system developed for the LTM4644 chip provides a hardware and software integrated solution: by integrating high-precision oscilloscopes, electronic loads, power analyzers and other equipment, it can automatically complete 56 performance indicator tests, covering key parameters such as static power consumption, dynamic response, and temperature characteristics. The intelligent analysis software equipped with the system can generate visual test reports in real time, and accurately locate performance differences by comparing with the original device data, providing data support for design optimization. This solution not only improves test efficiency by more than 40%, but also ensures that the reliability of replacement products reaches the world-class level through standardized testing processes.

Domestic testing platform

In the critical period of global supply chain reconstruction, domestic chip companies are moving from technological catch-up to innovation leadership. It is believed that domestic chips can break through external constraints through continuous innovation and development, laying a solid foundation for the high-quality development of the industry. With the continuous improvement of the coordination ability of the local industrial chain, China's semiconductor industry is expected to achieve a dual leap of technological breakthrough and market breakthrough in this tariff game.