SMIC may have to put sub-14nm process development on hold.
I can see why SMIC didn't bother to consult Liang for hiring of Chiang shang-yi . US sanction of SMIC for sub 10nm means Liang path becoming a dead end. N+1, N+2 may not be realizable using US tech. This means Chiang's chiplet tech is vital for current process such as 28 and 14nm.
US sanction of Huawei even more severe. It approved TSMC for Huawei only 28nm and above.
SMIC's 14nm capacity currently is underutilized, in contrast to its above 28nm capacity utilization (in the high 90's). The truth is that the vast majority of the chip demands in China are for 28nm and above. Huawei is probably the only Chinese company that has large volume needs for advanced nodes chips (=<7nm). Outside Huawei, other Chinese chip design companies have access to fabs for advanced nodes needs.
So the US sanctions are primarily felt by Huawei, and mainly for its smartphone division. The largest growing demands for chips in China in next five years are in cloud computing, data centers, EV, IoT, etc. All these don't need 7/5/3nm in the foreseeable future.
For the Chinese semiconductor industry, again, it's much more important to have a self-reliant supply chain in semiconductor manufacturing than claiming some latest and greatest advances in the cutting edge of chip manufacturing. That'll come when China has largely caught up and built indigenous capabilities in critical areas of the supply chain--right now the gaps are pretty large. It doesn't even have to be 100% complete or self-sufficient, because by then, the US will realize how self-defeating its sanction policies are and it would not want to miss the market opportunities in China any longer.
Kinda of like when japan cut off chemicals supplies to south korea. Like china, south korea has also been making moves to cut dependence in foreign chip tech/materials, but even for them, its not easy.
Japan's sanction of South Korea on semiconductor materials is a textbook example of shooting in one's foot. It did cause some initial panic and disruptions in South Korea semiconductor industry, but in the end they were able to alleviate it with indigenous capabilities and sourcing from other countries.
Japanese sanction was largely "inspired" by the US sanctions against China. So the US sanctions have its unintended consequences. Now even EU has committed huge funds and started initiative to develop its independent semiconductor capabilities. It's not market efficient, to be sure, but who can you blame?
