China exports eight-inch chips to India

CHANGSHA - China's leading locomotive maker, CRRC Zhuzhou Institute Co Ltd, has made the country's first bulk export of eight-inch chips to India.

The company, based in Zhuzhou city in Central China's Hunan province, said on Tuesday that it exported eight-inch insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) chips that will be used for upgrading the transformers of 100 locomotives in India to make the electric trains more energy-efficient.

The China-made chips are currently used on the 7,200-kilowatt electric locomotives that power China's high-speed trains.

CRRC Zhuzhou Institute Co Ltd built the world's second eight-inch chip production line in 2014, which has reached annual output of 120,000 chips and 1 million IGBT modules.

The IGBT chip is a key technology of modern electric appliances. It can be used in everything from high-speed rail to the aerospace and aviation industries.

The Chinese locomotive maker expects the chips to have huge export potential.