The USA has nothing to fear from China’s chip industry, said Tsinghua Unigroup chairman Zhao Weiguo (pictured) in Beijing at the weekend.

“There’s no need for the United States to feel jittery,” said Zhao, “we’re trailing far behind, not posing any threat to the U.S. in the competition.”

Zhao said that it will take at least another decade for China to become relevant in the industry.

In the summer, Unigroup said it had founded a new company called Ziguang Group to make DRAMs.

Unigroup already owns Yangtze Memory, the NAND manufacturer, Spreadtrum, RDA Microelectronics, Rockchip and Unisoc Communications.

Zhao urged US semiconductor companies to “relax and sleep well” and not feel threatened by Chinese competition.

Despite the huge funds reportedly invested by the China government in its domestic chip industry, Zhao pointed out that non-Chinese companies are investing far more.

While Samsung spends at least $20 billion in R&D and capex a year and  Intel and TSMC each spend $10 billion a year,  China’s National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund has only invested $18.6 billion in the local chip industry in the past five years, pointed out Zhao.

Zhao added that most of the Chinese effort in semiconductors is in the “lower tier” of the supply chain.

Zhao urged US chip companies to take a greater part in defusing trade tensions.

“On the one hand, they’re earning lots of money here in China, and on the other hand, they’re making malicious remarks about China to the U.S. government behind the scenes,” said Zhao, “US companies can do better, especially technology giants. Some American companies do well, and some do not.”

As part of the so-called ‘Phase One’ stage of the US-China peace talks in the trade war, it is proposed that tariffs on semiconductors be reduced or eliminated.

The finances of Unigroup have recently been under question after the value of its dollar-denominated debt fell sharply. 

Earlier this year, Tsinghua Holdings, Unigroup’s parent company, tried  to sell a 36% stake in Unigroup to a Shenzhen  local government investment fund but the deal fell through last August.