Even as China doubles down on its efforts to dominate the memory chip industry, its domestic companies continue to lag behind the global competition, an industry executive told CNBC on Thursday.

The semiconductor industry has been around for decades, but it is poised for another round of growth due to the emergence of new technologies like artificial intelligence and the fifth-generation of mobile networks, according to Lung Chu, president of SEMI China.

"There's a lot of opportunities in semiconductor," Chu told CNBC's Eunice Yoon at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in Beijing.

In 2014, the Chinese government issued guidelines for the development of China's semiconductor industry through innovation and investments, he explained. "There's evidence that money has been put in but I think it will take a long time for China to catch up with the global leaders."

SEMI is a global association for the semiconductor industry, and is present in countries such as the United States, China and South Korea.

Last year, global semiconductor revenue topped $400 billion, according to research firms Gartner and IHS Markit. The latter said worldwide revenue grew 21.7 percent and reached $429.1 billion in 2017. The industry is dominated by the likes of Samsung Electronics, Intel, SK Hynix, and Qualcomm.