China has published revised regulations on the protection of integrated circuit layout designs, with the new rules scheduled to take effect on Oct. 15, 2026.
The update was announced through a State Council order signed by Premier Li Qiang. The revised regulation contains six chapters and 54 articles, and the report says its core aim is to protect proprietary rights in integrated circuit layout designs and encourage semiconductor innovation.
Four main changes in the revised regulation
The report breaks the revision into four key areas.
First, it sets out broader overall requirements. The revised rules state that protection work for integrated circuit layout designs should align with national intellectual property strategy, expand the scope of protection, and stress the principle of honesty and good faith. Officials from the Ministry of Justice and the China National Intellectual Property Administration said at a press conference that the revision is meant to “better adapt to the development requirements of the new situation and new tasks.”
Second, it updates the application and review process. The new version adds a mechanism to regulate fraudulent applications, gives more detailed requirements for filing materials, improves rejection and cancellation procedures, and introduces a rights restoration process for the first time. That procedure gives designers a remedy if they miss deadlines because of force majeure.
Third, it strengthens protection for exclusive rights. The revised text clarifies standards for defining the scope of rights and raises the intensity of infringement compensation. According to the report, the method for calculating damages is now clearer, and the ceiling for statutory compensation has also been raised.
Fourth, it is meant to support the use of layout designs. The revised regulation calls for a stronger public service system, sets out reward measures, improves requirements for transfer, licensing, and pledging, and standardizes how co-owners may exercise their rights.
Regulatory revision comes alongside industry expansion
The article says the regulatory move is not happening in isolation. On July 30, Chinese DRAM company ChangXin Memory Technologies underwent a business registration change, with registered capital increasing from about 23.89 billion yuan to about 31.39 billion yuan, a rise of roughly 31%.
ChangXin Memory Technologies was founded in 2017. Its business scope includes integrated circuit design as well as chip and product manufacturing, and it is wholly owned by ChangXin Technology Group.
The report says industry participants view the stronger layout design protection framework, together with heavier capital investment by companies, as a sign that China is accelerating its push on semiconductor self-sufficiency.
What layout design means
Integrated circuit layout design refers to the three-dimensional arrangement of electronic components and wiring on a chip. A single chip may contain hundreds of millions of transistors, and the precision of that layout directly affects performance and power consumption.
The article describes layout design protection as something similar to a blueprint patent for chips, and says it is one of the core forms of intellectual property in the semiconductor industry. Under the revision, protection will cover more types of layout designs, while standards for determining infringement have also been strengthened. For domestic chip design companies, the report says, that means stronger intellectual property protection.