Technological catch-up of China's telecom-equipment industry

The existing dominant “adverse A-U” stage model of TC development in less developed countries(LDCs) are critically reviewed. It is only suitable for analyzing the technological development process in LDCs when the industrial technologies changed slowly, because it ignores the following posibilities: when new technology paradigm occurs, some LDC firms which are still technologically weak, may attempt trying leapfrog older technologies to catch up, especially with the support of local government. Bases on the catch-up experience of China's telecom-equipment industry, this article proposed a new three stage model, which is not only compatable to the existing “adverse A-U” stage model, but also contain the leapfrogging catch-up situations.