China's first indigenous digital TV chip, used in the new generation high definition television, has outperformed European and American products in terms of definition and anti-jamming capacities at far lower costs, reports Xinhua.

The chip, "Zhongshi No. 1", which integrates more than 70 memory units, two million logic gates and 20 million transistors, has passed technical appraisal from electronics experts.

"Zhongshi No. 1" was based on China's DMB-T standard and has outdone European and US standards for experimental broadcasts of digital TV in terms of definition, sensitivity and anti-jamming capacities, said Zhou Dian, independent designer of the product.

The chip embodies the core technology for the new generation high definition television (HDTV) that has been the focus of research and development in many countries since the early 1990s.

Analysts say mass production of the cost-effective chip will give a major boost to China's digital TV industry.

Zhou, who is president of the School of Microelectronics of Fudan University,
Said, the chip was made by Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.

According to official statistics, China has more than 370 million TV sets and an average 40 million sets are being sold each year. China plans to broadcast the 2008 Beijing Olympics on digital TV and hopes to the TV nationwide by 2015.