Variety of external knowledge and industrial upgrading: Evidence from Chinese semiconductor industry

IF 7.4 2区地球科学 Q1 GEOGRAPHY

Applied Geography Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-03 DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2025.103850

Shengjun Zhu , Xudong Zhang , Wenwan Jin , Wenqing Li

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Abstract

External knowledge serves as a critical source of industrial upgrading, yet existing research rarely examines the heterogeneity within the external knowledge set. Using customs transaction-level data, industrial survey, and patent data of the Chinese semiconductor industry (2000–2013), this paper shows that regional access to unrelated external knowledge facilitates the downstream firms to produce end-consumer products. Such access enables these firms to broaden their knowledge base, meet diverse market demands, and achieve upgrading. In contrast, related external knowledge is more advantageous for upstream firms involved in technology-intensive production. These findings indicate that not all external knowledge uniformly contributes to local firm upgrading; rather, its impact is conditioned by firms’ local product structure and positions within the value chain. By highlighting the complex composition of external knowledge, this study offers new insights into the upgrading of high-tech industry and the intersection of EEG, GVC, and innovation studies.

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外部知识多样性与产业升级：来自中国半导体产业的证据

外部知识是产业升级的重要来源，但现有研究很少考察外部知识集内部的异质性。本文利用2000-2013年中国半导体产业的海关交易数据、产业调查数据和专利数据，表明区域获取不相关的外部知识有利于下游企业生产终端消费产品。这种准入使这些企业能够扩大知识基础，满足多样化的市场需求，实现升级。相反，相关外部知识对从事技术密集型生产的上游企业更有利。研究结果表明，并非所有的外部知识都有助于本地企业的升级；相反，其影响取决于企业在当地的产品结构和价值链中的位置。通过突出外部知识的复杂构成，本研究对高技术产业升级以及脑电图、全球价值链和创新研究的交叉研究提供了新的见解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Applied Geography GEOGRAPHY-

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

2.00%

发文量

134

期刊介绍： Applied Geography is a journal devoted to the publication of research which utilizes geographic approaches (human, physical, nature-society and GIScience) to resolve human problems that have a spatial dimension. These problems may be related to the assessment, management and allocation of the world physical and/or human resources. The underlying rationale of the journal is that only through a clear understanding of the relevant societal, physical, and coupled natural-humans systems can we resolve such problems. Papers are invited on any theme involving the application of geographical theory and methodology in the resolution of human problems.