Foreign media The situation at SMIC has undergone major changes
In recent years, the United States has imposed more and more frequent sanctions on us, simply by unscrupulous means, for the simple reason that they see our progress and feel a real threat. Huawei, for example, has surpassed American companies in the field of communications.
For this reason, the few remaining advantages began to be suppressed, and semiconductors became the target of public criticism. As a key link in the chip industry chain, SMIC naturally and inevitably began to force the tripartite agreement, and it had to make a choice!
Over the years, we have made continuous progress through our own efforts, only to achieve a better quality of life through fair competition. Just like communication technology, we have experienced the 1G divide, the 2G follow-up, the 3G breakthrough and the parallel 4G race.
After years of cautious R&D investment, Huawei has finally taken the lead in the 5G era, but the United States is not satisfied.
Because of the change in people's cheese, it affects the windfall profits they earn from technology patents. 3G and 4G are Qualcomm's leading technologies, and people have tasted a lot of dividends, but they don't want us to get a piece of the pie, so they began to suppress sanctions.
To put it simply, people don't want to give us a chance to compete on a level playing field, they just want to continue to use their technology patents to make huge profits. The semiconductor industry is considered to be the last glory of the United States, so in recent years they have done everything possible to obstruct the development of the semiconductor industry.
The original intention of the wafer ban in the United States was mainly to force American wafer companies to cut wafers**, and later expanded to wafer companies using American technology around the world. In October last year, the United States even enacted strict new export control regulations, which began to focus on restricting advanced equipment.
From the previous period when only pressure was exerted on the Netherlands to limit the EUV, to the current tripartite agreement between Japan and the Netherlands to limit the USV, etc.
In 2018, the United States put pressure on the Dutch side four times in a row to prevent SMIC from ordering EUVs from ASML, because EUVs are necessary equipment for cutting-edge processes below 7nm, and finally succeeded in blocking them.
This situation means that SMIC is unable to achieve sub-7nm technology. Although SMIC hired chip tycoon Liang Mengsong, whose strength is also well known to TSMC and Samsung, there is certainly no problem in technology, but it is subject to indispensable lithography equipment.
Currently, the limit in the United States has been raised from 7 nanometers to 10 nanometers, and then to 14 nanometers, so we have limited DUV again.
That is why the United States is trying to win over Japan and the Netherlands. Some time ago, Japan and the Netherlands successively announced one information restriction measure after another. In July, Japan will restrict 28 types of equipment, including lithography machines, and the Netherlands will also restrict advanced deposition and lithography equipment.
Previously, the three parties had reached an agreement to comply with new U.S. regulations restricting the export of 14nm and below process semiconductor equipment. This will naturally affect the normal operation of SMIC's 14nm production line, as most of the equipment depends on these equipment.
As a result, SMIC has decided to remove the introduction related to the 14nm process from its official ** and put the 28nm process at the forefront.
Obviously, SMIC is doing this to avoid its edge and keep a low profile, and there is no need to incur unnecessary trouble when the country's semiconductor equipment has not yet been upgraded internally, but this does not mean that SMIC will stop continuing to continue advanced manufacturing processes.
SMIC mass-produced the 14nm process three years ago, and later announced that the yield was also linked to TSMC, and Shanghai also announced the mass production scale last year. But this process is basically done by Chinese companies, and it doesn't matter if it's online.
Under the current circumstances, SMIC can only quietly carry out advanced R&D and wait for the progress of national semiconductor equipment.
In addition, SMIC has adjusted its development direction in a timely manner according to the situation it is facing, focusing on the mature 28nm process. This level of process is currently the hottest on the market and the best combination of cost and performance.
The key is that in addition to lithography machines, other semiconductor equipment and materials can basically be replaced domestically. ASML also said that it can ship DUV immersion lithography machines, which can meet the needs of vigorously developing mature processes under normal circumstances.
It is worth mentioning that Shanghai Microelectronics' 28nm immersion lithography technology is being tested, and it should not be too far from a breakthrough.
To this end, SMIC has invested 170 billion yuan as planned to build four mature processing plants in four locations. After all of them are in mass production, SMIC's integrated circuit production capacity will be doubled, and SMIC's strength will be greatly enhanced.
If we take the lead at this level, we will win an important game in the gum war, and we will more forcefully impact the advanced process and solve the gum problem once and for all!
In this regard, foreign ** directly commented that the situation at SMIC has changed abruptly, and the tripartite agreement between the United States, Japan and the Netherlands is in vain!