The profit of an ordinary 25-inch home-made TV set is just 20 to 30 yuan, but Changhong's new chip could increase the profit by three folds, called Hongxin No.1, the digital automatic convergence chip with China's own intellectual property rights broke international technology blockage and has been applied for TV production, according to Changhong.

According to Zhang Enyang, vice director of the Technology Center of Changhong, there are only two TV makers in the world that could design and make such kind of chips. Internationally, such chip is sold at around 10 US dollars, while the same chip developed by Changhong could reduce the price to 10 yuan.

The Hongxin No.1 not only ends China's history relying on imports for the chip, but also multiplies the profits of Chinese TV makers.

According to reports, mainly used in traditional TV picture tubes, projection TV sets, it could track and recognize TV's basic color signals.

Zhang Enyang said that Changhong's other chips named as Hongxin No.2, No.3 and No. 4 with different functions are also in the testing phase and will be put into production very soon.

In the first half of 2004 alone, China's imported chips topped 26.2 billion US dollars, said Lu Renbo, vice director of Market Department of Developing Research Center of the State Council.

Changhong's chip, together with Hisense's Hiview chip developed last year, signals China's color TV technology has leapt to the stage of chip research and development from TV assembly. China has put an end to the history without own color TV chip.

By People's Daily Online