In recent years, due to the continuous pressure from the United States to interfere and revise chip rules, there have been many changes in the semiconductor industry. TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou couldn't help but say many times that the globalization of the chip industry is dead, and freedom is in danger.
Because of the chip restrictions in the United States, it has not only brought development difficulties to Chinese enterprises, but also seriously damaged American companies and foreign companies that adopt technology, and even Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia have collectively lobbied for this. Not only that, but the chip giants have collectively changed their faces!
Let's start with Nvidia. For so many years, Nvidia has not been the most dazzling chip company because of its focus on GPU chips, and the limelight on chips has basically been covered by CPU giant Intel and mobile phone SOC giant Qualcomm.
Finally, with the popularity of artificial intelligence AI, the GPU giant NVIDIA, which focuses on improving computing power, has finally stood on the cusp!
However, it didn't take long to be happy, and the chip restriction notice of the United States was ushered in, and it could not be shipped to the world's largest semiconductor market, and the key was more than once.
But Nvidia doesn't want to give up, after all, about 20% of the company's revenue comes from the mainland market. As a result, Nvidia plans to modify the chip again and launch three special versions of the chip. Huang also publicly confirmed this in a recent interview.
However, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo went crazy and directly named Nvidia, and if it was launched, they would restrict it the next day.
So Huang couldn't take it anymore and said directly to Raimondo, "We don't want to break the rules, but please tell us the rules." Soon, Raimondo changed his tune and allowed Nvidia to ** AI chips to the mainland, but restricted advanced chips.
Next, let's look at ASMLAs a global lithography machine giant, the Dutch ASML has long begun to expand its business in the mainland, and has previously said that it has shipped a total of 1,000 lithography machines to the mainland, and the number of lithography machines has reached 1,400 again this year.
Although the U.S. has been continuously blocking the shipment of lithography machines to Chinese companies, it has previously restricted high-end EUV lithography machines, and since this year, it has promoted the restriction of immersion DUV lithography machines. To this end, Japan and the Netherlands have also been enlisted to reach and implement a tripartite agreement.
However, ASML accelerated shipments to the mainland, accounting for 24% of revenue from the mainland in the second quarter and 46% in the third quarter.
Now, ASML is in the midst of a change of old and new CEOs, with the CEO-elect taking office in April next year. Recently, ASML's new and old CEOs were interviewed by reporters, and they all expressed their positions on the future relationship with the mainland.
The outgoing CEO Wennink was very direct and openly opposed to the export controls imposed by the United States. He said that ASML has been able to maintain a leading position in technology for a long time, thanks in part to revenue from markets such as the mainland.
The CEO-elect, on the other hand, was more subtle, saying that the mainland market is very vast, and it is very difficult to decouple from different regions.
Let's take a look at Samsung. As representatives of Korean chip manufacturers, Samsung and SK hynix have long been developing in the mainland, and have also built a number of wafer factories in the mainland, after all, the mainland is the world's largest chip market, and 40% of South Korea's chips are exported here.
However, in the past two years, the United States has implemented chip restrictions, and South Korea has actively cooperated, resulting in a continuous decline in chip exports to China.
As a result, the losses of Korean enterprises are very serious, and Samsung's net profit in the first two quarters of this year is above 95%, although the decline in the third quarter has decreased, it is still declining. SK hynix, on the other hand, has long been cutting capital expenditures and partially reducing production.
To this end, South Korean companies no longer accept the obedience, actively communicate with the United States, South Korea ** also stepped up mediation, and finally Samsung and SK hynix's mainland factories obtained permanent exemptions. You know, this is a treatment that even TSMC has not received.
Then, South Korean companies accelerated the expansion of factories in the mainland, and in November, South Korea's chip exports to China increased by 12 percent year-on-year9%。
Not only that, South Korean companies began to bypass the "middleman" of the US side and communicate directly with ASML. Recently, the South Korean side made a rare visit to the Netherlands, and Samsung and SK hynix also went to the ASML headquarters to communicate and strive for the purchase of EUV lithography machines.
In fact, not only the above-mentioned Nvidia, ASML, Samsung, etc., but also chip giants such as TSMC, Intel, and Qualcomm, all of them are dissatisfied with the chip restrictions in the United States, and no one wants to lose such a large market share.
TSMC actively strives for mainland customers, even at the expense of 7nm price cuts. Intel said that if they continue to expand the restrictions, there will be no point in building factories in the United States. After Qualcomm saw that the losses were getting bigger, it first began to make significant layoffs in the United States.
In this regard, some foreign media said that the situation suddenly reversed, the chip giants collectively changed their faces, and the US restrictions could not be stopped at all!