Japan's collapse has been the remarkable semiconductor story of the past 30 years. They used to be at about 50% and now they're at 10%.
Chinese semiconductor industry
- Thread starter Hendrik_2000
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So far the answer is absolutely yes for 90 nm based on purely public official knowledge.
It is 90 nm solely due to the limitation of the photolithography portion, everything else is good down to leading edge or slightly below leading edge.
Next steps: better ArF dry scanner (65 nm capable) and immersion ArF (28 nm capable). Then, improve wafer stage for 14 nm FinFET.
China wages war on 'corruption' in chip industry after years of fundraising
BEIJING -- China is clamping down on the misappropriation of funds inside the national chip industry as its rivalry with the U.S. in semiconductors heats up and an important Communist Party national congress is just a few months away.
Authorities have launched a barrage of investigations against semiconductor executives in recent weeks. The white collar busts are happening during the run-up to this fall's twice-a-decade
Communist Party congress. The timing suggests that the central leadership is frustrated that China's semiconductor industry is not growing as fast as anticipated.
The country's largest state-backed chip fund has become a "hotbed of corruption" according to a report from a Chinese media outlet. The China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (CICF), which is backed by state-owned banks and other sources, distributes funds to domestic semiconductor companies.
The CICF was meant to serve as a launchpad for the central government's industrial development agenda. But in late July, authorities announced they were investigating Ding Wenwu, the CICF's former president.
Specifics of the probe have not been disclosed, but it is suspected that Ding funneled cash from the fund toward personal expenses.
Ding once worked as the head of the semiconductor policy department within the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He was then installed at the CICF, created in 2014.
Known commonly as the "Big Fund," the entity has raised 340 billion yuan ($50.3 billion) to date and invested roughly two-thirds of that amount. Because Ding had a reputation as a heavyweight in the chip industry, the probe came as a shock throughout the sector.
Ding was not the only one in the crosshairs of authorities. In mid-July, Lu Jun, the one-time chief of Sino IC Capital, the CICF's managing company, was placed under investigation. Both Lu and Ding were known to be involved in selecting investment targets. An executive at another fund linked to the CICF has reportedly been placed under arrest.
The investigation has widened to companies that have received CICF funding. Also in July, the former head of Chinese chipmaking giant Tsinghua Unigroup, Zhao Weiguo, was placed under arrest. Diao Shijing, the former co-president of the group, has also been taken into custody, according to a report from Chinese media outlet Caixin.
The CICF has injected funds into Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and UNISOC, both group companies within Tsinghua Unigroup.
"The crackdowns on the Big Fund and Tsinghua Unigroup are related," said a source, echoing a widely held view. The probe could potentially net more figures going forward.
Semiconductors were positioned as a top priority under the Made in China 2025 industrial initiative announced in 2015. The goal was to achieve 70% self-sufficiency in chip supplies in 2025, up from 10% at the time.
A torrent of money flowed into the chip industry, now officially recognized as investment worthy by both the party and the state. The funding came from government-controlled funds like the CICF, as well as from state-owned banks and state-owned enterprises.
Between 2015 and the first half of this year, the semiconductor industry cumulatively raised roughly 900 billion yuan, according to Winsoul Capital, a Chinese chip investment company. Last year alone, the sector raised more than 200 billion yuan, or 10 times the 2015 amount.
China sold about $150 billion worth of semiconductors last year, nearly triple the volume in 2015. But the volume was not enough to meet Chinese domestic demand, and the country ended up importing more than $400 billion worth of chips in 2021 -- nearly double from 2015.
In addition, China is the target of economic sanctions regarding chip technology, lodged by Washington to exploit one of China's weaknesses.
Chinese enterprises are unable to import top-of-the-line chip manufacturing equipment, which is causing hurdles in developing and making semiconductors.
The U.S. also recently passed the CHIPS Act, which prohibits companies from investing in and expanding cutting-edge chipmaking facilities in China over the next 10 years if they receive U.S. subsidies.
Because China is behind on the technological front, the country's chip self-sufficiency rate remains mired at between 20% and 30%, according to local media.
"In order to compete against the U.S., they were supposed to use domestic funds effectively and raise the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry," said an executive at an international company.
BEIJING -- China is clamping down on the misappropriation of funds inside the national chip industry as its rivalry with the U.S. in semiconductors heats up and an important Communist Party national congress is just a few months away.
Authorities have launched a barrage of investigations against semiconductor executives in recent weeks. The white collar busts are happening during the run-up to this fall's twice-a-decade
Communist Party congress. The timing suggests that the central leadership is frustrated that China's semiconductor industry is not growing as fast as anticipated.
The country's largest state-backed chip fund has become a "hotbed of corruption" according to a report from a Chinese media outlet. The China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (CICF), which is backed by state-owned banks and other sources, distributes funds to domestic semiconductor companies.
The CICF was meant to serve as a launchpad for the central government's industrial development agenda. But in late July, authorities announced they were investigating Ding Wenwu, the CICF's former president.
Specifics of the probe have not been disclosed, but it is suspected that Ding funneled cash from the fund toward personal expenses.
Ding once worked as the head of the semiconductor policy department within the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He was then installed at the CICF, created in 2014.
Known commonly as the "Big Fund," the entity has raised 340 billion yuan ($50.3 billion) to date and invested roughly two-thirds of that amount. Because Ding had a reputation as a heavyweight in the chip industry, the probe came as a shock throughout the sector.
Ding was not the only one in the crosshairs of authorities. In mid-July, Lu Jun, the one-time chief of Sino IC Capital, the CICF's managing company, was placed under investigation. Both Lu and Ding were known to be involved in selecting investment targets. An executive at another fund linked to the CICF has reportedly been placed under arrest.
The investigation has widened to companies that have received CICF funding. Also in July, the former head of Chinese chipmaking giant Tsinghua Unigroup, Zhao Weiguo, was placed under arrest. Diao Shijing, the former co-president of the group, has also been taken into custody, according to a report from Chinese media outlet Caixin.
The CICF has injected funds into Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and UNISOC, both group companies within Tsinghua Unigroup.
"The crackdowns on the Big Fund and Tsinghua Unigroup are related," said a source, echoing a widely held view. The probe could potentially net more figures going forward.
Semiconductors were positioned as a top priority under the Made in China 2025 industrial initiative announced in 2015. The goal was to achieve 70% self-sufficiency in chip supplies in 2025, up from 10% at the time.
A torrent of money flowed into the chip industry, now officially recognized as investment worthy by both the party and the state. The funding came from government-controlled funds like the CICF, as well as from state-owned banks and state-owned enterprises.
Between 2015 and the first half of this year, the semiconductor industry cumulatively raised roughly 900 billion yuan, according to Winsoul Capital, a Chinese chip investment company. Last year alone, the sector raised more than 200 billion yuan, or 10 times the 2015 amount.
China sold about $150 billion worth of semiconductors last year, nearly triple the volume in 2015. But the volume was not enough to meet Chinese domestic demand, and the country ended up importing more than $400 billion worth of chips in 2021 -- nearly double from 2015.
In addition, China is the target of economic sanctions regarding chip technology, lodged by Washington to exploit one of China's weaknesses.
Chinese enterprises are unable to import top-of-the-line chip manufacturing equipment, which is causing hurdles in developing and making semiconductors.
The U.S. also recently passed the CHIPS Act, which prohibits companies from investing in and expanding cutting-edge chipmaking facilities in China over the next 10 years if they receive U.S. subsidies.
Because China is behind on the technological front, the country's chip self-sufficiency rate remains mired at between 20% and 30%, according to local media.
"In order to compete against the U.S., they were supposed to use domestic funds effectively and raise the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry," said an executive at an international company.
Stop spamming this thread with your garbage, tidalwave. We want quality discussions here.
Stop throwing tantrums and insults. For the last time I am not Tidalwave.
It does appear to be the case, since there are Chinese vendors at every stage of the fabrication process. But to truly verify that assertion, you probably need industry insiders to do a full accounting beyond the first-level drill-down of the equipment categories - there are so many different equipment involved in the fabrication process. Another way to do it is look at all the equipment/machines that the major Chinese semiconductor companies bought more recently and see what type of equipment that Chinese equipment makers are still not supplying, which still takes considerable industry knowledge though.
In addition to equipment, there is also the question of materials and chemicals used in the fabrication process.
Finally, we know China has established and upstart EDA vendors, but we don't know what levels of process they can support. In this, you need not only functionality, but many existing IP libraries, something that take years to build up.
My sense is that currently the 28nm process nodes still can not be produced with fully indigenous technologies.
I know least about EDA, but
Metrology: Dongfang Jingyuan CD-SEM (5-40 nm) and optical metrology (10 nm)
and
We've discussed lithography, ion implant, PVD, CVD, dry etch quite a bit in this thread so I won't repeat.
Some things I don't know about:
1. Wet etchers
2. Electrochemical deposition
3. Probe card systems
So except for those 3, I'm confident that 28 nm is in reach, except immersion ArF lithography. And even for immersion ArF it is just a matter of time, and in the meanwhile, there's Nikon struggling to survive.
What drives the Chip shortages
1) Banning of Chinese tech company
2) demand for computers due to the lockdown and working online
3) Crypto mining
4) auto chip
Fast forward 2022 the trend we are seeing:
1) The Chinese had increase its domestic IC production capacity
2) Looming transitory recession (sorry for the corny joke), with it consumer demand hit an all time low as people saves instead of purchasing high item goods and buying only essential things
3) The Crash of crypto mining
4) In China auto chip production had increase cause the Chinese had focus on it rather than building expensive cutting edge nodes that relies on niche market like cellphone.
Conclusion: the Chip shortage is an artificial thing created by the tech war, the pandemic , the crypto Mining and the massive US subsidies, now when the mask are lifted we see a massive glut and China is the only bright spot. So why invest in the US for more Fabrication, the CHIP ACT is one massive white elephant vanity project.
BYBLOOMBERG NEWS
AUGUST 5, 2022
World chip sales growth has decelerated for six straight months—yet another sign the global economy is straining under the weight of rising interest rates and mounting geopolitical risks.
Semiconductor sales rose 13.3 percent in June from a year earlier, down from 18 percent in May, data from the global peak industry body showed. The current slowdown is the longest since the US-China trade war in 2018.
ADVERTISEMENT
The three-month moving average in chip sales has correlated with the global economy’s performance in recent decades. The latest weakness comes as concern about a worldwide recession has prompted chipmakers like Samsung Electronics Co. to consider winding back investment plans.
Semiconductors are key components in a world that’s increasingly reliant on digital products and services, particularly during the pandemic when a lot of work and schooling was conducted remotely.
Chip sales started to cool as central banks began scrambling to raise interest rates to combat spiraling inflation and Russia’s war on Ukraine and prolonged Covid lockdowns in China prompted a rapid reversal in the international outlook.
A Bloomberg Economics global tracker shows the prospects for the world economy have deteriorated rapidly this year, coinciding with chip sales beginning to slow.
Signs of an international downturn are also observed in trade data from South Korea, the world’s biggest producer of memory chips. Growth in chip exports eased to 2.1 percent in July from 10.7 percent in June, the fourth straight monthly slowing. In June, semiconductor stockpiles rose by the most in more than six years.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s a similar story in Taiwan, which is another key player in electronics supply chains. Latest data indicate manufacturing on the island contracted in June and July, while production and demand slumped, with new export orders registering the biggest fall.
The weakening momentum in these two canaries in the global coal mine is partly due to a slowing economy in China, which continues to impose lockdowns under its Zero-Covid policy. China’s unexpectedly contracted in July and property sales continue to shrink.
In the US, gross domestic product has fallen for two straight quarters, though the National Bureau of Economic Research refuses to call it a recession. In Europe, factory activity plunged in June, further darkening the outlook for both the continent and the wider world.
Nonetheless, the International Monetary Fund still sees a global expansion this year, and slowing chip sales don’t automatically indicate a recession is imminent.
ADVERTISEMENT
But they offer a glimpse into the health of an international economy that relies heavily on the tiny components to manufacture everything from cars to smartphones to computers.
The peak world body—the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association—says it represents 99 percent of the US chip industry by revenue and almost two-thirds of non-US chip firms. The sales it releases are compiled by . Bloomberg News
1) Banning of Chinese tech company
2) demand for computers due to the lockdown and working online
3) Crypto mining
4) auto chip
Fast forward 2022 the trend we are seeing:
1) The Chinese had increase its domestic IC production capacity
2) Looming transitory recession (sorry for the corny joke), with it consumer demand hit an all time low as people saves instead of purchasing high item goods and buying only essential things
3) The Crash of crypto mining
4) In China auto chip production had increase cause the Chinese had focus on it rather than building expensive cutting edge nodes that relies on niche market like cellphone.
Conclusion: the Chip shortage is an artificial thing created by the tech war, the pandemic , the crypto Mining and the massive US subsidies, now when the mask are lifted we see a massive glut and China is the only bright spot. So why invest in the US for more Fabrication, the CHIP ACT is one massive white elephant vanity project.
Cooling semiconductor sales stoke fears of global recession
AUGUST 5, 2022
World chip sales growth has decelerated for six straight months—yet another sign the global economy is straining under the weight of rising interest rates and mounting geopolitical risks.
Semiconductor sales rose 13.3 percent in June from a year earlier, down from 18 percent in May, data from the global peak industry body showed. The current slowdown is the longest since the US-China trade war in 2018.
ADVERTISEMENT
The three-month moving average in chip sales has correlated with the global economy’s performance in recent decades. The latest weakness comes as concern about a worldwide recession has prompted chipmakers like Samsung Electronics Co. to consider winding back investment plans.
Semiconductors are key components in a world that’s increasingly reliant on digital products and services, particularly during the pandemic when a lot of work and schooling was conducted remotely.
Chip sales started to cool as central banks began scrambling to raise interest rates to combat spiraling inflation and Russia’s war on Ukraine and prolonged Covid lockdowns in China prompted a rapid reversal in the international outlook.
A Bloomberg Economics global tracker shows the prospects for the world economy have deteriorated rapidly this year, coinciding with chip sales beginning to slow.
Signs of an international downturn are also observed in trade data from South Korea, the world’s biggest producer of memory chips. Growth in chip exports eased to 2.1 percent in July from 10.7 percent in June, the fourth straight monthly slowing. In June, semiconductor stockpiles rose by the most in more than six years.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s a similar story in Taiwan, which is another key player in electronics supply chains. Latest data indicate manufacturing on the island contracted in June and July, while production and demand slumped, with new export orders registering the biggest fall.
The weakening momentum in these two canaries in the global coal mine is partly due to a slowing economy in China, which continues to impose lockdowns under its Zero-Covid policy. China’s unexpectedly contracted in July and property sales continue to shrink.
In the US, gross domestic product has fallen for two straight quarters, though the National Bureau of Economic Research refuses to call it a recession. In Europe, factory activity plunged in June, further darkening the outlook for both the continent and the wider world.
Nonetheless, the International Monetary Fund still sees a global expansion this year, and slowing chip sales don’t automatically indicate a recession is imminent.
ADVERTISEMENT
But they offer a glimpse into the health of an international economy that relies heavily on the tiny components to manufacture everything from cars to smartphones to computers.
The peak world body—the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association—says it represents 99 percent of the US chip industry by revenue and almost two-thirds of non-US chip firms. The sales it releases are compiled by . Bloomberg News
@gadgetcool5 you have to thank Uncle Sam and the Japanese LDP, the next targets is TSMC while SK is smart enough to protect Samsung.
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