(Yicai) Sept. 17 -- The usage rate of home appliance analog chips made by Chinese manufacturers in China is already relatively high, several distributors, analysts, and experts said after the country launched an anti-dumping investigation into such chips made in the United States.

About 90 percent of analog chips used in China's home appliance industry, including operational amplifier, comparator, and power supply chips, are produced domestically, Chen Jianmin, founding director of Xi'an University of Technology's reliability research institute, told Yicai. If digital chips and power semiconductors are included, the rate is around 70 percent to 80 percent, Chen noted.

On Sept. 13, China's commerce ministry launched a probe to determine whether US suppliers sold analog chips at unfairly low prices in China that could cause serious damage to the local industry. If the investigation finds dumping practices, anti-dumping duties may be imposed on relevant imports. The chips are widely used in microphones, laptops, and phones.

The performance of Chinese analog chips can meet the requirements of standard home appliance products, with leading companies having backup plans to use such chips, a chip distributor pointed out. For example, among analog chips used in the variable frequency drives of outdoor units for large appliances, including air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines, the usage rate of domestic products is no less than 60 percent, while that in small appliances is 100 percent, the person added.

Although there are still a few imported operational amplifiers and power supply chips, Chinese chips offer better prices, the distributor noted, but added that "domestic chip makers can still improve in technological advancement."

Chinese chips can meet the usage requirements of the home appliance industry, although there is still room for improvement in product reliability, according to Chen. With the advancement toward higher-end products, the domestic analog chip market will likely undergo a new round of competition, with only the fittest to survive, he pointed out.

"The Ministry of Commerce's anti-dumping investigation is expected to accelerate the localization process of chips used in home appliances," said Xu Hong, senior advisor at the China Household Electric Appliance Research Institute.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev