To provide a switching circuit where the storage time is shortened, high-speed switching operation can be performed and increase in a chip size can be prevented.

The switching circuit is provided with a diode (D11), a capacitor (C11) which is charged during the high-level period of switching pulses and a transistor (Q12) for discharging, which discharges carriers stored in the base of a switching transistor (Q11), when the switching pulses are turned on at a low level. When the switching pulses are set to low level, the diode (D11) is turned off, the transistor (Q12) is turned off by the charging voltage of the capacitor (C11), the carriers stored in the base of the transistor (Q11) are forcedly discharged, the storage time of the transistor (Q11) can be shortened, and the charging electric charge of the capacitor (C11) becomes the base current of the transistor (Q12). As a result, the capacitance of the capacitor (C11) can be reduced, and increase in the chip size can be prevented, when the switching circuit is formed as a semiconductor integrated circuit.