Technology sector The impact of U.S. export restrictions on China s chip supply

Mondo Technology Updated on 2024-03-08

In today's world, with the continuous development of science and technology around the world, integrated circuits are regarded as the heart of the IT industry, and their importance is beyond doubt. In recent years, the United States has continuously imposed export controls on China's high-tech enterprises in order to maintain its leading position in the world, in an attempt to hinder China's development by controlling China's chip supply. However, Chinese companies have shown a strong willingness to develop and replace their products, and have responded to the embargo with their own actions.

Just when Nvidia was restricted, some companies in Huaguo had already bought all of Nvidia's H100 and A100 chips. This can not only ensure that the company can maintain normal production and operation in the short term, but also provide a certain buffer for the adoption of stricter export control policies in the future. And the facts also confirmed their judgment, the United States did have strict control over this product. Even the A800 series has not escaped this fate.

In this external environment, Chinese enterprises are not passively waiting, but are constantly exploring their own path of technological innovation. Especially from the position of local technology companies. According to the Register, some local technology companies have told investors that they may not be able to obtain advanced GPU chips due to U.S. export control regulations. However, this did not panic it, but rather provoked its independent and innovative spirit. Domestic technology companies believe that even if they use lower-level chips, they can ensure their advantages in the market through effective domestic chips, and NVIDIA has nothing to do about it.

Domestic technology companies believe that even if they use lower-level chips, they can ensure their advantages in the market through effective domestic chips, and NVIDIA is helpless.

This move not only shows the strong self-confidence of local technology companies in the technology field, but also will serve as a model for other high-tech companies in China. Since there is no high-end chip from NVIDIA, then you can only use some low-end processors to solve your own problems. The domestic AI chip market is developing, and there are many domestic AI chip manufacturers, and progress has been made in some technologies and application scenarios. At the same time, there are also reports that domestic companies have ordered a large number of foreign chips, which may indicate that domestic companies rely on imported chips to a certain extent. Huawei, China's leading technology company, is also accelerating the development of AI chips, hoping to become a part of the country.

The rise of domestic integrated circuits is not only forced by external pressure, but also an important reason for China's high-tech industry to achieve independent development. China has made great progress in chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, and has a series of key technologies and products with independent intellectual property rights. It is a common view that domestic chips have improved in performance. The performance improvement or technological progress of domestic chips is mentioned to varying degrees. However, regarding whether domestic chips have advantages in terms of quality, semiconductor chips have large fluctuations, but upstream raw materials are relatively stable, which may mean that there are challenges in the cost control of domestic chips, rather than advantages. It is pointed out that the domestic x86 chip cannot be compared with Intel and AMD, which also indirectly indicates that the domestic chip may not have an advantage in the first place.

In terms of performance, we can indeed see that domestic chips are improving, but from the first point of view, whether domestic chips really have advantages, or are really valuable, we have no direct evidence to support this. First of all, there are large fluctuations in semiconductor chips themselves, especially in the case of slow progress in semiconductor processes, and upstream raw materials are relatively stable. This may mean that there are certain challenges in cost control of domestic chips, rather than the best advantages.

Secondly, as one of the most important components of the server processor, the x86 chip is almost a fixed cost. We know that Intel and AMD occupy the vast majority of the x86 server market, which means that the two manufacturers have a strong say in x86 server chips. Therefore, we can see that in 2021, AMD and Intel have both launched a new generation of server processor products, and they have also made a certain degree of concession in **. The domestic x86 chip has no advantage in this regard.

Domestic x86 chips cannot compare with the best advantages of Intel and AMD.

At the same time, the rise of the domestic integrated circuit industry has brought more opportunities to China's high-tech companies. In the face of external constraints and closures, Chinese enterprises can better adapt to their own needs, thereby reducing their dependence on external supply. This is of great significance for improving the level of risk resistance of Chinese enterprises and promoting the development of China's high-tech industry in the direction of diversification.

However, it is not easy to make a country's semiconductor industry develop rapidly, and it is necessary to continue to work hard in technology, market, and industrial chain. First of all, it is necessary to increase independent research and development efforts and continue to improve the ability and reliability of China's independent and controllable integrated circuits; Secondly, it is necessary to expand the market use of domestic products and promote more domestic products to be used in different industries; Fourth, strengthen the cooperation of the industrial chain and build an integrated circuit industry ecosystem.

But it is not easy to make a country's semiconductor industry develop rapidly. Because there is still a big gap between us and advanced countries in technology, market, and industrial chain, and in order to truly achieve independent control, we also need to increase independent research and development efforts in technology, and continue to improve the ability and reliability of China's independent controllable integrated circuits; The second is to further expand the market use of domestic products, so that domestic products can be used more in different industries; Finally, it is necessary to strengthen the cooperation of the industrial chain and build an integrated circuit industry ecosystem.

In general, in the face of U.S. restrictions and blockades, Chinese companies have shown a strong willingness to independently develop and replace products. Chinese enterprises have made some progress in independent research and development, but there is still a big gap between them and foreign companies in core areas. China's chip industry is facing challenges in terms of production capacity and ** chain, and the growth rate of China's semiconductor industry is slowing down and enterprises are going bankrupt. In the future world science and technology competition, China will gain more advantages due to the development of the domestic integrated circuit industry.

But at the same time, we must also see that independent innovation is not an overnight effort, it requires the cooperation and long-term investment of enterprises, scientific research institutes and other parties. China's technology enterprises must continue to carry out technological innovation, continue to accumulate, and continue to create excellent technology companies like "Huawei", and our voice and voice in the world technology field will become stronger.

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