ASML restricts the export of lithography machines, and the 'Chinese chip' may return to 45nm, and the market reaction is abnormal.
When it comes to mobile phone chips, people think of Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, and MediaTek. The chips designed by these four companies have excellent performance and have been recognized by the world market.
Among them, Apple's A-series chips have strong performance, 2 to 3 years ahead of their competitors in the same period.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips have excellent performance and stable power consumption, so mobile phone manufacturers including Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo use Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.
MediaTek chips have also been ridiculed by netizens: one core is difficult, and seven cores are all. Today, MediaTek's Dimensity chips perform so well that they are almost on par with Qualcomm chips.
Huawei's Kirin chips have caught up with the Snapdragon 865 on the Kirin 990 and the Snapdragon 888 on the Kirin 9000. If Huawei's Kirin chips continue to develop, it is very likely to catch up with Apple's A-series chips.
Unfortunately, in 2019, Huawei encountered sanctions, and the self-designed Kirin chip did not have a foundry, resulting in the Kirin chip still staying at the level of the Kirin 9000 and unable to launch a new Kirin chip.
When Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek launched new chips one after another, Huawei's Kirin chip did not have any news, a phenomenon that made many users worried.
In the face of this phenomenon, many users who support Huawei are asking themselves: since TSMC can't OEM Kirin chips for Huawei, why don't you let SMIC OEM?
Unfortunately, SMIC does not have the strength of the best Kirin foundry chips for the following three reasons.
First of all, Huawei's Kirin chips use a 5nm process, while SMIC's most advanced chips use a 14nm process. As we all know, the current low-end chips use 6nm processes, such as Snapdragon 4Gen1, so SMIC wants to bring hope to Huawei's Kirin foundry chips, and Huawei's Kirin foundry chips are not outstanding.
What's more worrying is that SMIC's official website has deleted the introduction of the 14nm process, and only the introduction of the 28nm process and the 28nm and above process has been retained, which reflects that SMIC's business focus will be on 28nm and 28nm and above process chips.
Secondly, as early as 2019, SMIC broke ground on 7nm process technology, and as long as there is an EUV lithography machine, then SMIC has the hope of producing 7nm chips. Unfortunately, in 2018, SMIC purchased an EUV lithography machine from ASML, but due to the suppression of the United States some time ago, this EUV lithography machine has not arrived.
Thirdly, at the beginning of the year, the United States pulled the Netherlands and Japan to compose"Coalition", restricting Chinese companies from obtaining advanced DUV lithography machines. At the end of March, the Dutch company ASML officially announced that authorization is required to sell DUV equipment.
In other words, ASML is starting to restrict the export of DUV lithography machines, which is bad news for chip foundries like SMIC.
It is not difficult to see that SMIC does not lack the strength to produce 7nm chips, but SMIC does not have the corresponding cutting-edge lithography technology.
From EUV lithography to DUV lithography, ASML seems to have ambitions for Chinese companies, which not only affects SMIC, but also affects Huawei, and further affects the development of China's semiconductor industry.
On June 23, according to foreign ** reports, the Netherlands will take the lead in announcing the latest export control measures at the end of this month, which will restrict the export of ASML semiconductor equipment.
According to the report, 2100i, 2050i, and 2000iBuv lithography machines have been added to the export restriction list, and the most advanced lithography machine that ASML exports without restriction is the 1980DI lithography machine.
The 1980DI lithography machine is ASML's low-end lithography machine for the production of chips with 45nm and above processes. In other words, even if we bought this 1980di lithography machine, we would only be able to produce chips with a 45nm process. In the face of this situation, there are foreign ** claims:"China Chip"Or it will return to the 45nm level.
So, is this really the case?The answer is no. Although SMIC is unable to produce advanced 7mm and 5nm chips for Huawei, this does not mean that SMIC's chip foundry level will stay at 45nm.
An important reason is that Shanghai Microelectronics has realized the application of 28nm holographic lithography technology, which indicates that Shanghai Microelectronics has made a major breakthrough in 28nm lithography technology.
In addition, the ultra-high-speed precision laser interferometer developed by the team of Harbin Institute of Technology can provide technical support for the development of 28nm lithography technology.
It is not difficult to see that the national 28nm lithography technology has made a series of breakthroughs. In line with this trend, the success of the research and development of domestic 28nm lithography technology is just around the corner.
From Huawei's Kirin chips not being produced by any foundry, to SMIC's inability to obtain high-quality EUV lithography machines and DUV lithography machines, to the research and development of 28nm lithography machines by Shanghai Microelectronics, we can clearly feel the shortcomings of the domestic semiconductor industry.
Weak foundation, lack of equipment, technical blockade. This series of problems needs to be solved urgently. Here, it is hoped that domestic consumers will support domestic products within their own capabilities, so that domestic enterprises will have more funds for R&D and production.