China eyes chip-industry foothold with a tiny Han Xin code to challenge US standard

China is reviving its nearly two-decade-old Han Xin code by developing a miniature version called "Micro Han Xin" to label semiconductor components, as part of its efforts to establish a domestic standard in global industrial supply chains. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) confirmed that the smaller iteration of the Han Xin code has entered the international standardisation process.

The aim is to label tiny computer components, such as sensors, microprocessors, controllers, and memory units, which are currently difficult to identify due to their size. This move follows China's realization that it needs to challenge existing foreign technologies, like Data Matrix, which has been the global standard for marking and tracking semiconductors for nearly four decades.

The Micro Han Xin code claims to match or exceed Data Matrix in terms of information density and resistance to damage, as it can store dozens to over a hundred numbers or characters within a minuscule space. The regulator plans to integrate this technology into an upcoming revision of ISO/IEC 20830, which governs the Han Xin framework.

While the original Han Xin code faced limited adoption, the new Micro Han Xin version boasts superior encoding efficiency, potentially resulting in smaller symbols than QR codes and Data Matrix. However, winning over the global semiconductor supply chain could still prove challenging, given the existing infrastructure of identification systems in place.