China Revises IC Layout Regulations to Cover Photonics and Quantum Chips

Premier Li Qiang has signed State Council Decree No. 842, promulgating the revised Regulations on the Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Designs, set to take effect on October 15, 2026. Updating a regulatory framework established in 2001, the revised rules explicitly broaden intellectual property protections to encompass emerging technological frontiers like integrated photonics and quantum chips. The overhaul tightens application standards, penalizes fraudulent registrations, increases compensation for infringement, and establishes explicit guidelines for commercial transfers, licensing, and joint ownership.

Integrated circuit layout designs represent the core intellectual property of the semiconductor sector. By increasing infringement damages and extending legal safeguards to non-traditional hardware architectures—such as optical and quantum computing chips—China is establishing a more comprehensive legal umbrella for domestic innovation and commercialization amid heightened global technological competition.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has signed State Council Decree No. 842 to publish the revised *Regulations on the Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Designs*, according to official reports published on August 3. The updated policy framework, consisting of 6 chapters and 54 articles, was formally approved during a State Council executive meeting on July 10 and signed on July 23, with an effective implementation date set for October 15, 2026. The revised regulation replaces the initial regulatory framework established under State Council Decree No. 300 in April 2001. A key structural update in the new text is the explicit extension of legal protection to layout designs for integrated circuits featuring non-traditional functionality, specifically including integrated photonics and quantum computing chips. This modification widens the statutory scope beyond conventional silicon-based semiconductor devices. Under the terms of the updated rules, an integrated circuit layout design—defined as the three-dimensional configuration of active elements and interconnecting circuitry, or the preparations made to manufacture such configurations—must demonstrate originality. To qualify, a design must reflect the creator's independent intellectual labor and not be considered conventional layout knowledge among chip designers and manufacturers at the time of creation. The policy reiterates that legal protection covers physical and structural configurations without extending to underlying technical ideas, processes, operational methods, or mathematical concepts. To tighten statutory oversight, the revised regulations refine application and examination procedures by explicitly targeting fraudulent filings, detailing application documentation standards, and introducing formal legal procedures for restoring rights. The rules also reinforce rights protection by clarifying standards for defining exclusive layout rights and raising legal compensation and liability limits for unauthorized commercial reproduction or distribution. The updated rules also aim to encourage practical commercial application by clarifying reward and remuneration structures for creators, regulating intellectual property transfers, licensing, and pledges, and establishing clearer principles for joint owners exercising shared rights. Foreign entities and individuals can obtain layout design rights in China through initial local commercial deployment or via relevant international treaties and bilateral intellectual property agreements.