Chinese semiconductor industry

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ansy1968

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@WTAN @foofy @BoraTas Sir from the VERDICT, a balance report and may had taken some info here in SDF...lol @Annihilation98 bro there is some info here regarding SMEE 28NM DUVL, but we all knew the facts long ago thanks to our esteem members who are kind enough to share it with us. Like you I'm waiting for @WTAN and @foofy for any positive news especially the 14nm verification that will happen late this year, so being patience is a virtue and hope the test will be a success. @horse bro our favorite topic ,China is ahead in 5G by 2 to 3years as stated by the article.

There will be over 11 billion enterprise IoT devices by 2024, according to GlobalData estimates. China is at least two years ahead of the US and the EU in terms of 5G deployment and has already put up an experimental 6G satellite.

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China’s rapid progress in pivotal 28nm and 14nm chips​

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8th June 2021 (Last Updated June 8th, 2021 09:08)

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China focuses on 28nm and 14nm chips – core enablers of the internet of everything – 28nm chips form the dividing line between mid and high-end integrated circuit manufacturing. It is these and midrange and low-end chips that will cater for most of the future demand for chips as Artificial Intelligence (AI) features and functions are embedded in the rapidly growing population of more or less autonomous connected devices. These devices range from cars to smart traffic lights and companion robots to biomedical devices.
What capabilities that 28nm and lower end chips can’t satisfy, will be very largely be met using 14nm and 20nm technologies. 14nm stands a lot closer to 7nm technology in terms of performance than to 28nm, while involving much lower design and fabrication costs than 7nm.

For example, last year, in terms of speed and power draw, Intel’s 14nm Skylake desktop processors were not noticeably different from AMD’s 7nm Ryzen processors, despite the marketing hype around 7nm, while costing less to make.

Only a tiny fraction of downstream 5G applications will need anything more powerful than 14nm processors and support chips. The call will be for leading edge chipset designs, microcontroller-based systems, sensor fusion, advanced packaging and down the line third generation materials rather than the leading-edge fabrication of 7nm, let alone even thinner line width transistorised chips.
Meanwhile, the 5G enabled ‘internet of everything’ is forming rapidly to realise the spatial web by 2030. There will be over 11 billion enterprise IoT devices by 2024, according to GlobalData estimates. China is at least two years ahead of the US and the EU in terms of 5G deployment and has already put up an experimental 6G satellite.

Production of 28nm chips is being ramped up​

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chip foundry, is front and center of China’s drive into the future, and it has been ramping up the production of critical 28nm chips since last year. Achieving scale at 28nm this year will be highly significant in the longer-term process of developing a more complete Chinese domestic semiconductor ecosystem, and in the drive to eliminate the need to outsource production to foreign foundries, most notably TSMC.

Next year, equally significant, there will be a major ramp up of 14nm chips as well. In the absence of a matching homegrown alternative, SMIC uses ASML DUV (deep ultra-violet) lithography machines supported by specialist US equipment from Applied Materials, LAM and Tokyo Electron, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Free from dependence on US​

However, a home grown 28nm DUV lithography machine is scheduled to spin up from Shanghai Microelectronic Equipment by the end of this year, and to be fabricating 48nm and 28nm chips for IoT devices on a proprietary Shanghai production line.
At SEMICON 21 in Shanghai in March, the company showed a scanner operating at 90nm. The management recently reported that improving yields at 48nm and 28nm remains a challenge, but SMEE technology now has the basic home-grown UV capability free of US IP to fabricate chips


It is too early to assess just how much of a game changer SMEE might prove to be and at what scale SMEE and other Chinese DUV machines may be operating by 2025 at down to 5nm. But SMEE has already defied expectations with its progress in a fiendishly difficult area of technology.

N+1 process technology​

Meanwhile, in late March, SMIC clinched an on/off/on again contract with ASML to buy over $1 billion worth of DUV machines this year. SMIC, like other Chinese foundries, had been turning to the global second-hand market in UV machines and other production equipment such as etchers, vapor deposition and wafer inspection components.
ASML is still yielding to US pressure over EUV machines that would enable SMIC to move to 7nm and thinner like TSMC.
There are though signs within the EU to suggest that ASML, like the EU commission and leading EU companies such as Infineon and STMicro, is bridling against the US meddling in its affairs. After all, China is forecast to account for at least 40% of the global expansion in chip making capacity by 2030: a not to be missed market prospect for ASML, SMEE notwithstanding.
A similar dynamic is gathering force among specialist US suppliers of production equipment and EDA design tools since China accounts for over 50% of their revenues in some cases.
Next year, SMIC will be ramping up 14nm chips and in 2023 7nm chips. It is already into small batch production of the latter chips, which stand somewhere between 14nm and 7nm, with its N+1 process technology.
It has $12bn worth of capacity expansion projects underway with financial support from provincial governments in Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai. The primary focus will be on boosting 28nm output with due attention also being paid to 14nm and its 7nm version– the latter likely to see volume production by 2024.
It is a high probability that SMIC, plus half a dozen other Chinese foundries, will be able between them to make the vast bulk of the chips China needs by 2025 by meeting the rising demands from China’s growing base of fabless companies designing their own chips–these include Hi Silicon, Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Horizon Robotics, Cambricon, Xiaomi, Oppo and ByteDance.

The chips are down in the US sanctions poker game​

The Chinese leadership assumes that America will continue to weaponize its core semiconductor IP to try and hold China back. In extremis, China may need to counter the threat of tougher US sanctions over the mid-term by closing vital Chinese markets to US companies, notably Apple, and/or by cutting off supplies of rare earths, industrial grade battery materials or APIs.
As Dr Handel Jones, the highly respected Founder/CEO of International Business Strategies, puts it: ‘’the Chinese are master strategists.’’
Washington faces the jagged problem that its political objectives collide with the huge importance to its domestic chip industry of continued and growing access to the Chinese market whether it’s Qualcomm, Applied Materials or Synopsys. Annual revenues of up to $100bn and up to 150,000 jobs are at stake as well as a vital source for R&D funding.
BCG and the SIA forecast that the global semiconductor industry will be more than twice its current size by 2030, with revenues of $1.4 trillion, and that China will account for 60% of this and build out 40% of the global growth in production capacity by then
As the decade unfolds and moves towards a post Moore world shaped by big data, AI and by new chip architectures, packaging and materials, China could emerge as the leader at the post Moore inflection point.
It has done so at previous technology inflection points. For example, it has achieved leadership in 5G, in high-speed trains, in quantum communications and in big data driven AI.
It certainly has the motivation, capital and human resource, magnetism to attract foreign talent, and sheer entrepreneurial energy and ingenuity to do so. It would be unwise to bet against it.

Related Report​

 
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hashtagpls

Senior Member
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The Chinese leadership assumes that America will continue to weaponize its core semiconductor IP to try and hold China back. In extremis, China may need to counter the threat of tougher US sanctions over the mid-term by closing vital Chinese markets to US companies, notably Apple, and/or by cutting off supplies of rare earths, industrial grade battery materials or APIs.
As Dr Handel Jones, the highly respected Founder/CEO of International Business Strategies, puts it: ‘’the Chinese are master strategists.’’
Washington faces the jagged problem that its political objectives collide with the huge importance to its domestic chip industry of continued and growing access to the Chinese market whether it’s Qualcomm, Applied Materials or Synopsys. Annual revenues of up to $100bn and up to 150,000 jobs are at stake as well as a vital source for R&D funding.
Trump's tenure has proven that all it takes is for a complete dumbass (navarro, lighthizer, pompeo) with elite fail sons (kurt cameron, matt pottinger et al) to cripple the United States in an effort to hurt China.
 

ansy1968

Brigadier
Registered Member
Trump's tenure has proven that all it takes is for a complete dumbass (navarro, lighthizer, pompeo) with elite fail sons (kurt cameron, matt pottinger et al) to cripple the United States in an effort to hurt China.
@hashtagpls bro I think the author is a SDF member...lol the way he or she write the article is way to truthful to be a Western journalist, there is no malice and spin but pure facts. Maybe he or she is an engineer or an expert by profession, I really like It , a breath of fresh air.
 

ansy1968

Brigadier
Registered Member
@Annihilation98 bro regarding your past remarks about needing Japanese parts for SMEE 28NM DUVL, hope this statement from the article may provide the answer, especially this one "but SMEE technology now has the basic home-grown UV capability free of US IP to fabricate chips" So bro it may not be top notch but at least its good enough and its ingenious. Proudly MADE IN CHINA. :cool:

Free from dependence on US​

However, a home grown 28nm DUV lithography machine is scheduled to spin up from Shanghai Microelectronic Equipment by the end of this year, and to be fabricating 48nm and 28nm chips for IoT devices on a proprietary Shanghai production line.
At SEMICON 21 in Shanghai in March, the company showed a scanner operating at 90nm. The management recently reported that improving yields at 48nm and 28nm remains a challenge, but SMEE technology now has the basic home-grown UV capability free of US IP to fabricate chips


It is too early to assess just how much of a game changer SMEE might prove to be and at what scale SMEE and other Chinese DUV machines may be operating by 2025 at down to 5nm. But SMEE has already defied expectations with its progress in a fiendishly difficult area of technology.
 
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WTAN

Junior Member
Registered Member
China can now thank Donald Trump and his sidekick Ron Vara for the great contributions they have made to China's Technology Ascendancy.
China now has the Harmony OS, DUVL and very soon its own EUVL.
China would not have even comtemplated developing all these technologies if there was no talk about Sanctions and Decoupling coming from the US.
This is a great opportunity presented to China by the US.
 

ansy1968

Brigadier
Registered Member
China can now thank Donald Trump and his sidekick Ron Vara for the great contributions they have made to China's Technology Ascendancy.
China now has the Harmony OS, DUVL and very soon its own EUVL.
China would not have even comtemplated developing all these technologies if there was no talk about Sanctions and Decoupling coming from the US.
This is a great opportunity presented to China by the US.
@WTAN Sir, if China is able to mass produced a 7nm chip next year and flood the market, I think both BKK and XIAOMI will used Harmony OS, cause with 7nm node it had a chip capable of using it therefore sideswiping any US sanction on both of them.. And a question remain will SMIC mass produced a 7nm Chip since they had the capacity and capability but is forbidden? If they do and sanction is reimposed can SMIC replaced any US tech with local equipment capable of working with ASML DUVL?
 

In4ser

Junior Member
Deleted. Wrong thread, just realized Polysilicon is not used for semiconductors but rather for Solar industry instead.
 

horse

Major
Registered Member
@horse bro our favorite topic ,China is ahead in 5G by 2 to 3years as stated by the article.

Right on brother! Fight the power!

Must admit, those leftist slogans sure sounds good!


The Huawei 5G was the most important fight, it was really the tech war, this round of it.

There was a lot of strategy involved, a lot of actions by both sides, and they fought over it worldwide. That was not enough and the Huawei vs US government war expanded into semi-conductors. Wars have a tendency to expand. This one was no different for the Americans in that respect.

Goldman wrote another article at Asiatimes, we should all read it and I posted it below.

The funny part, and Goldman being Jewish, he is always funny, he brings up the rumour of a black market in chips and that Huawei is not suppose to get stuff like that!

Well ... like ... duh ... only Jews and Chinese do stuff like that!

:D

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krautmeister

Junior Member
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@WTAN Sir, if China is able to mass produced a 7nm chip next year and flood the market, I think both BKK and XIAOMI will used Harmony OS, cause with 7nm node it had a chip capable of using it therefore sideswiping any US sanction on both of them.. And a question remain will SMIC mass produced a 7nm Chip since they had the capacity and capability but is forbidden? If they do and sanction is reimposed can SMIC replaced any US tech with local equipment capable of working with ASML DUVL?
SMIC N+1 and N+2 processes have US content that can't be replaced without swapping out the lithography machines. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a fully China domestic 7nm SoC anytime sooner than 2023, more likely later. Even if SMEE 14nm trials succeed later this year and they can tap out 7nm at half decent yields sometime in 2023-2024, the fab capacity within China will be nowhere near what is needed to supply the market demand. Even if China's total fully domestic 7nm fab capacity was adequate to meet market demand at that time, the US would just move on to sanctioning some other critical component like ARM via some lawfare reason that they will make up with falsified "evidence" or scare tactics.

Imo, to succeed, China needs to develop a competent RISC-V based or maybe even LoongArch ISA based SoC at 7nm. Then, together with Harmony OS, the supply chain would achieve full independence. Until then, I doubt BBK or Xiaomi would take the risk unless they were directly attacked by American sanctions like Huawei is.
 
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