[Updated Aug. 8, 2005] — Silicon chips designed — or partly designed — in China will account for 14.8 percent of the world's semiconductor sales in 2005, according to a Reuters report, placing the Far Eastern nation just behind No. 2 Japan (15.5 percent) as the world's third-biggest chip designer.

According to a study released last week by technology consultant iSuppli, as reported by Reuters, the US will lead the market in chip designs this year, with 40.2 percent of new semiconductor sales this year. Taiwan will be fourth at 10.1 percent.

Earlier this year, Chinese semiconductor vendor BLX IC announced the Godson-2, a 64-bit microprocessor with a “MIPS-like” architecture that can run office applications under Linux with claimed performance comparable to a Pentium-III. However, BLX IC could face intellectual property disputes if its Godson-2 processor or products based on it reach the US, due to an alleged lack of a MIPS architecture license from MIPS Technologies Inc.

Read the full Reuters story on the semiconductor sales numbers here.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.