No sector is more loaded in China’s 15th Five-Year Plan than semiconductors and software. The combination is deliberate: chips without the software to design and program them are limited, and software without the chips to run it at scale is equally constrained. The plan treats them as a single self-reliance problem.

On the hardware side, the FYP targets three categories: mature-node chips (the volume production that Chinese fabs can already partially supply), advanced chips (where China remains substantially behind the leading edge), and optoelectronic chips (a category that intersects with AI hardware, sensors, and communications). The plan does not pretend the advanced chip gap is already closed. It treats closure as an objective requiring sustained investment and policy support.