Thursday, July 21st 2022
Chinese SMIC Ships 7 nm Chips, Reportedly Copied TSMC's Design
The Chinese technology giant, SMIC, has managed to advance its semiconductor manufacturing technology and shipped the first 7 nm silicon manufactured on China's soil. According to analyst firm TechInsights, who examined the 7 nm Bitcoin mining SoC made for MinerVa firm, there are doubts that SMIC 7 nm process is somewhat similar to TSMC's 7 nm process. Despite having no access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools, and US restrictions placed around it, SMIC has managed to produce what resembles an almost perfect 7 nm node. This could lead to a true 7 nm logic and memory bitcells sometimes in the future, as the node advances in SMIC's labs.
Having done an in-depth die analysis, the TechInsights report indicates that TSMC, Intel, and Samsung have a more advanced 7 nm node and are two nodes ahead of the Chinese SMIC. The results are not great regarding the economics and yield of this SMIC 7 nm process. While we have no specific data, the report indicates that the actual working chips made with older DUV tools are not perfect. This is not a problem for the Chinese market as it seeks independence from Western companies and technology. However, introducing a China-made 7 nm chip is more critical as it shows that the country can manufacture advanced nodes with restrictions and sanctions in place. The MinerVa SoC die and the PCB that houses those chips are pictured below.
Sources:
TechInsights, via Tom's Hardware
Having done an in-depth die analysis, the TechInsights report indicates that TSMC, Intel, and Samsung have a more advanced 7 nm node and are two nodes ahead of the Chinese SMIC. The results are not great regarding the economics and yield of this SMIC 7 nm process. While we have no specific data, the report indicates that the actual working chips made with older DUV tools are not perfect. This is not a problem for the Chinese market as it seeks independence from Western companies and technology. However, introducing a China-made 7 nm chip is more critical as it shows that the country can manufacture advanced nodes with restrictions and sanctions in place. The MinerVa SoC die and the PCB that houses those chips are pictured below.
62 Comments on Chinese SMIC Ships 7 nm Chips, Reportedly Copied TSMC's Design
China is OPENLY creating a parallel "China only" world, preparing for, you guess what.
The headline accuses SMIC of copying TSMC, but the body implies the opposite: "there are doubts that SMIC 7 nm process is somewhat similar to TSMC's 7 nm process."
Yes they have a history of accessing that patent office at the government level much like a personal library, but none of that has anything to do with the fear word "communism" which China largely has abandoned in everything but show.It also says the process is 2 gens behind, so we are misunderstanding something here.
Goddess in the Roman Pantheon of gods and much before that as Athens (Athena) in Greece.
Maybe the name also symbolize that the technology behind it is product of parthenogenesis.(Parthenon is the most famous temple dedicated to the goddess)
I wanna say the reason the trade wars and tariffs started was because of Chinese companies (China owned) blackmailing US companies to hand over IP for various reasons, including bail-outs, there was a bunch of news about all this at the time, I think 2016-ish.
and just see how the ARM-China branch went rouge...
and of course the disregard of foreign ownership. You can't (couldn't?) completely own your own chinese branch/office, but it needed to be in collaboration with a chinese company. With the chinese having minimum 51% ownership... (might've been certain exception, but this is general rule) (seems article bellow says they will increase ownership cap in 2020 (article form 19))
www.privatebankerinternational.com/news/china-foreign-ownership/#:~:text=China%20has%20already%20loosened%20joint%20venture%20(JV)%20ownership,a%20majority%20stake%20in%20its%20China%20securities%20JV.
More:
www.cnbc.com/2019/02/28/1-in-5-companies-say-china-stole-their-ip-within-the-last-year-cnbc.html
harrisbricken.com/chinalawblog/chinese-free-look-schemes-to-steal-your-ip/
qualityinspection.org/10-examples-of-china-ip-theft/#:~:text=American%20Superconductor%20Corp.%20has%20software%20code%20and%20IP,which%20had%20been%20placed%20near%20to%20AMSC%E2%80%99s%20headquarters.
How you think Huawei became big...
www.wsj.com/articles/SB10485560675556000
www.computerworld.com/article/2578617/cisco-sues-huawei-over-intellectual-property.html#:~:text=Cisco%20alleges%20that%20Huawei%20copied%20portions%20of%20the,found%20in%20Cisco's%20IOS%20source%20code,%20Cisco%20said.
www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/cisco-huawei-suspend-lawsuit-again/
www.techinasia.com/huawei-regularly-steal-apple-ip-report-claims#:~:text=In%20brief:%20Huawei%20has%20regularly%20tried%20to%20steal,US%20government%20recently%20accused%20of%20stealing%20trade%20secrets.
phoneradar.com/top-9-evidence-of-huaweis-backdoor-ip-theft-alleged-hacking-reports/
edit:Still pretty impressive if they're using "old tools"
WATCH: China rolls out tanks on street to stop its CITIZENS from using banks (dnaindia.com)
Germany pioneers wind power generation. China gets involved, fast forward to 2022: last German company in that market is shutting down.
Chinese are known to lie about their technological prowess. I would not surprised if this "7nm" is actually more like "17nm" or "27nm". Of course that itself is a lie if we take actual gate sizes that all manufacturers including TSMC lie about. Unfortunately the whole nm is more marketing than reality these days.
The US is pushing ASML to sanction China, but that hasn't happened yet.
www.theregister.com/2022/07/05/us_expands_efforts_to_hamstring/