China sells 50m BeiDou chips in five years: spokesperson

BEIJING - China has sold over 50 million domestically manufactured chips connected to the BeiDou navigation and positioning system in the past five years.

The chips have been downsized to their smallest size at 28 nanometers, down from the previous 0.35 micrometers, and the cheapest are priced at only 6 yuan ($0.9) each, said Ran Chengqi, a BeiDou spokesperson, at a press conference Wednesday.

He said the performances of the China-made chips were as good as or better than similar products made in other countries.

Ran said China could not manufacture a single chip connected to the BeiDou system five years ago, but now China-made chips have realized scale application in the country.

"High-accuracy OEM boards and receiver antenna made in China now account for 30 and 90 percent of the domestic market, respectively," Ran said.