The domestic core broke through 7nm, and the "problem" quietly emerged, and we made unremitting efforts to overcome the difficulties
China's wafer manufacturing system, from low-end to high-end, is facing huge challenges because there are defects in the connection of manufacturing equipment, not only on individual equipment such as EUV lithography machines, but also on the entire autonomous production line, and lack of actual production experience.
There are two major problems in the development of domestic wafer manufacturing equipment in China: on the one hand, it is difficult to overcome the technical problems of physical limitsOn the other hand, it cannot integrate into the main markets of Europe and the United States, and there are no development opportunities;The latter is more difficult than the former.
Because of the defects in the entire industrial chain, the result is that domestic tablet computers are strangled in the cradle, although companies such as Huawei have mastered the design capabilities of advanced tablet computers, but because they have no experience in the manufacturing end, they are stuck by the United States and have no power to fight.
TSMC founder Zhang Zhongmou also made it clear"Chinese mainland lags behind TSMC in chip manufacturing technology by five or six years"。It's a fact.
However, in terms of product research and development, domestic manufacturers have made many breakthroughs, in addition to Huawei, there are many companies that have mastered the research and development capabilities of advanced chips above 7 nanometers.
For example, the core R&D technology of the Longying No. 1 chip uses the 7nm process, and the Spreadtrum T820 Unisplendour uses the 6nm process, Alibaba's Yitian 710 uses the 5nm process, and then there are products that have not been made by mainland manufacturers.
It can be seen from the products launched by these companies that Chinese companies have effectively reached the industry-leading level in chip research and development capabilities, and are fully capable of developing more advanced chips of 7nm and above.
However, not long after these companies developed chips beyond the 7nm process, a very strange problem arose, that is, the 7nm chips launched by these companies did not cause a strong response in the market like Huawei's Kirin chips.
In fact, the fact that mainland companies can manufacture 7nm and more advanced chips is a good thing for the entire mainland semiconductor industry, but the products launched by these companies are incompatible, and even the Yitian 710 developed by Alibaba has not received much attention.
Why is there such a strange problem?Is it because the 7nm chips developed by Chinese companies are not as good as foreign products?The answer is no, and the Huawei Kirin chip says it all, but it has now been discontinued.
What's more, just like the Longying No. 1, which develops basic technology, it is also a leader in domestic chips, using 7nm process technology, becoming the first 7nm automotive-grade intelligent cockpit chip, and this 8.8 billion transistor chip fusion belongs to the ultra-large-scale SoC.
The excellent performance of Longying 1 has reached the international mainstream level, even compared with Snapdragon 8155, it is not far behind in some aspects, but in terms of results, Longying 1 is far from Snapdragon 8155.
At present, Snapdragon 8155 has been used by domestic car companies on a large scale, using this chip up to dozens of car companies, carrying hundreds of smart cars, domestic car companies will also use Snapdragon 8155 as a product selling point, emphasizing the performance and digital experience of the chip.
As a tape-out in 2021, the Longying No. 1 chip has been born for two years, but few car companies have announced the adoption of Geely's core engine technology as the largest shareholder, and there has been no actual launch of models equipped with the Longying No. 1 chip.
It can be seen that domestic enterprises have mastered the processing capacity of R&D of 7 nanometer and above chips, but the actual utilization rate of domestic advanced chip processing enterprises is very low.
On the one hand, the development of domestic automobile enterprises for so many years, has formed a tacit understanding with foreign enterprises, years of cooperation can be said to be difficult to break instantly, due to this impact, domestic automobile companies may not be able to reverse the concept in a short period of time, but also have to continue to use Qualcomm and other foreign chip manufacturers.
After all, Qualcomm chips have been developed for so many years, and they are better than domestic chips in terms of technology, stability and quantity, even if domestic companies have the ability to produce, it is difficult to change the status quo, at least in the short term.
On the other hand, the domestic wafer industry chain is not perfect, and the main links are still controlled by companies such as the United States, after all, the 7nm process used by Longying 1 still needs to rely on TSMC for supply, so Chinese companies will not be too gentle in wafer design, chip flow to mass production and market planning.
It took a year and a half for Longying No. 1 to go from tape-out to mass production, while mature companies such as Qualcomm and Apple usually only need a few months to produce and go on the market, so in terms of chips, Chinese companies are actually far behind foreign companies.
Of course, whether it is external or internal reasons, it can reflect a problem, that is, China's chip industry still has a lot of room for progress, and not launching products proves that domestic chips have grown.
If it is not recognized by the market, it cannot solve the problem of production capacity, and there is no point in chip research and development, so Chinese companies still need to make unremitting efforts, as long as they continue to accumulate experience, they will have the opportunity to achieve corner overtaking.