Monday, October 30th 2023
US Government Can't Stop Chinese Semiconductor Advancement, Notes Former TSMC VP
The Chinese semiconductor industry is advancing, and interestingly, it is growing rapidly under sanctions, even with the blacklisting of companies by the US government. China's semiconductor industry is mainly represented by companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) and Huawei Technologies, who are leading the investment and progress in both chip manufacturing and chip design. According to the latest interview with Bloomberg, former TSMC Vice President Burn J. Lin said that the US government and its sanctions can not stop the advancement of Chinese semiconductor companies. Currently, Lin notes that SMIC and Huawei can use older machinery to produce more advanced chips.
Even so, SMIC could progress to 5 nm technology using existing equipment, particularly with scanners and other machinery from ASML. Development under sanctions would also force China to experiment with new materials and other chip packaging techniques that yield higher performance targets. SMIC has already developed a 7 nm semiconductor manufacturing node, which Huawei used for its latest Mate 60 Pro smartphone, based on Huawei's custom HiSilicon Kirin 9000S chip. Similarly, the transition is expected to happen to the 5 nm node as well, and it is only a matter of time before we see other nodes appear. "It is just not possible for the US to completely prevent China from improving its chip technology," noted Burn J. Lin.
Source:
Bloomberg
Even so, SMIC could progress to 5 nm technology using existing equipment, particularly with scanners and other machinery from ASML. Development under sanctions would also force China to experiment with new materials and other chip packaging techniques that yield higher performance targets. SMIC has already developed a 7 nm semiconductor manufacturing node, which Huawei used for its latest Mate 60 Pro smartphone, based on Huawei's custom HiSilicon Kirin 9000S chip. Similarly, the transition is expected to happen to the 5 nm node as well, and it is only a matter of time before we see other nodes appear. "It is just not possible for the US to completely prevent China from improving its chip technology," noted Burn J. Lin.
58 Comments on US Government Can't Stop Chinese Semiconductor Advancement, Notes Former TSMC VP
Also TMSC which is Taiwanese, and Samsung, which is Korean, hold monopoly and also keep the prices artificially over inflated .
I actually welcome any future Chinese company that would challenge those. Japan is also preparing something too, but knowing them, it will take decades before anything tangible.... Dinosaurs still roam free there. ;)
Whether that reason was based on fear or undisclosed information I don't know, but it wasn't for fear of competition.
In my country, the dominant telecommunication company is planning on suing the government, over the increase in cost of
having to use other suppliers than Huawei, which they were planning to use extensively. For one I feel better knowing that the entire
5G network in my country isn't based on one Chinese supplier.
I assume the same logic was used when the US imposed sanctions on certain Chinese companies.
The US knows it can't stop progress, They Are slowing it down though, which is they're goal.
The arguments are also bad, you know, "7nm" is just a name
China doesn't respect IP, what they have it's mostly stolen, even their military equipment
Its a bit of a kumbaya / naive viewpoint, but it does seem to work. PH.d students who study here learn most about USA culture and likely see the benefits of 1st Amendment or... property rights... concepts that are alien to the Chinese native (and is one of the reasons why Chinese-Americans buy up Real Estate immediately after they "hop off the boat" so to speak). The truth be told, USA offers a lot of benefits to the Chinese individual, and encouraging them to join our country is only in our best interests.
Besides, colleges/universities aren't really where our good tech is. So I really don't see much of an issue there, most of our tech are just secrets kept inside of private industry. The issue at hand therefore, is Chinese-sponsored corporate spying. Arguably its connected to our education programs but in reality, I expect most of it to just be hacking conducted over the internet.
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The other big risk is fully off-shore companies choosing to leave their secrets in Chinese factories, under the false assumption that China isn't going to steal it. See ARM and their licenses by ARM-China getting rektd. At least ARM managed to keep their latest-generation cores outside of China before ARM-China effectively mutiny. But its these acts of largescale corporate thefts that are causing the tech-transfer into their country. Not really the student-exchange program. (I mean hell, the Student-exchange program is a cold-war era program wherein we traded students with the Soviets)
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With regards to the 7nm thing... its all just politics. If China goes to war with Taiwan, China cannot depend on Taiwan for chips. In effect, Chinese chip-advancement is a national-security matter to them. They will absolutely accomplish it, all our job is to delay China until 2030+ when our new generation of Destroyers come in. We don't want war, but we especially don't want war when we have 1980s-era Destroyers as the bulk of our Navy against Chinese 2020-era designed Stealth Destroyers.
With any luck, the presence of next-generation 2030-era Destroyers on the high-seas will discourage China from making any aggressive actions in the 2030+ era. But 2020-decade will be fraught with peril.