THE revenue of the Chinese integrated circuit market will recover strongly this year due to growing domestic demand for chips and also in new sectors such as smart grid, automotive and mobile computing, industry officials said during a semiconductor event yesterday.

The IC companies will expand production capacity and invest heavily to upgrade technology, senior officials from SMIC, ASE and HLMC told a forum during the three-day Semicon China 2012, which opened yesterday in Shanghai.

"A strong domestic demand and a mature industry chain on the Chinese mainland will boost the market revenue in 2012," said Chiu Tzu-Yin, chief executive of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. 

China's semiconductor market posted an annual 9.2 percent rise in revenue to 157.2 billion yuan (US$24.9 billion) in 2011, according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association. 

In 2011, Shanghai's IC industry revenue jumped 17.2 percent to 63 billion yuan. The revenue may grow 12 percent this year, according to the Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Association.