Not surprised. Should be expected. Even if a local alternative is available, Chinese
Chinese semiconductor industry
- Thread starter Hendrik_2000
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Not Unexpected. It takes more than a couple of years for Chinese tech to mature and the stubborn conventional thinking of Chinese consumers will always favoured a foreign product over a similar local one. So manufacturers will continue to use well known foreign items whenever they can, just for marketing advantage in an open market, both in China and the rest of the world.
So unless Xi imposed a protective market and Biden imposed a complete tech ban, China will continue to be the biggest importer of high and new tech as China continue its open door policy .
These Chinese companies know how to win over their customers and competitors. It's just business.
SMIC made a investment in this company.
Founded in 2009, Shanghai Zhengfan Technology Co., Ltd. has been serving China's integrated circuit, flat panel display, semiconductor lighting, solar photovoltaic, optical fiber manufacturing and biopharmaceutical industries for many years, providing customers with comprehensive solutions for key process systems. Zhengfan Technology is an enterprise with lofty aspirations and striving to last forever. We are committed to providing advanced technology, reliable products and perfect services to customers in China's high-tech industries.
Founded in 2009, Shanghai Zhengfan Technology Co., Ltd. has been serving China's integrated circuit, flat panel display, semiconductor lighting, solar photovoltaic, optical fiber manufacturing and biopharmaceutical industries for many years, providing customers with comprehensive solutions for key process systems. Zhengfan Technology is an enterprise with lofty aspirations and striving to last forever. We are committed to providing advanced technology, reliable products and perfect services to customers in China's high-tech industries.
Yeah, good point. There is a reason why AMD hasn't gotten anywhere. Biren and all these other guys really need to build their ecosystem. Thankfully, all these guys are motivated to have an alternative to Nvidia so they will try to find resources to develop 3rd party libraries with the Chinese chip designers. That's why I think the first mover is going to gain a lot of advantage here.
Also, the integration with Baidu's paddle paddle hardware ecosystem is quite big. Baidu is now the largest open-source deep learning frameworks in China. So, it's probably why Biren (and I'm sure Kunlun) has joined in their Hardware Ecological Co-creation Plan. In this case, developers just write to Paddle paddle while 3rd party libs get developed to interact withe the GPUs. Here is a little big about it. Not sure about this idea of partnering with ARM.
well, there wasn't a viable alternative that was as powerful as A100 before. But now, there are several. And, they just got even more motivated. People keep wanting to act like you can develop something overnight. What some of these guys have done in 3/4 years is nothing short of extraordinary. It's probably only been possible because they got a bunch of experience people from Nvidia/AMD. Even then, only China is capable of challenging Nvidia here.
Anyways, a little bit more on Kunlun
Already produced many tens of thousands of chips and build data clusters of over 10000 chips.
btw, there is also 8x version of Kunlun-2 called R480-X8 that combines to generate 256 TOPS for FP32 calculation.
As Baidu continues to build smart cloud datacenter with partners, they provide paddle paddle platform with Kunlun-2 chip behind it. This I think is the best way for domestic chip makers to succeed. Need to partner with a couple of the big players that have large need for AI chips themselves and then be involved in building data centers for customers.
btw, impact of A100/H100 ban
so the key hear is that Inspur, Alibaba Cloud, Baidu cloud, tencent cloud and Lenovo all use A199. Nvidia has 80% market share in data center, 90% market share in cloud training market and 60% in cloud inference. Biren technology commented that they are excited that opportunity is here for BR100. They are going through bunch of testing in low production period. Aim to complete all this work by end of the year in order to start mass production for customers. Another domestic player said that Nvidia is too far ahead and omestic players are fighting for the remaining 10% (seems way too pessimistic). Nvidia has full ecosystem with hardware, system software, software cloud and application framework. So there are definitely a huge hurdle on this front for any Chinese chip designers to cross. To me, without the implicit threat of further sanctions, it would be very hard to get willing participation from customers to build an ecosystem.
This one I haven't watched as much but apparently Tianshu Zhixin's TianGai-100 (called big island in English) has quite a bit of orders already. Already accumulated 230 million RMB of orders on it with more than 200 customers signing on from 20 different industries.
Apparently, Tianshu Zhixin showcased a new platform called Zhikai-100 in this year's WAIC.
they look like a system integrator, I noticed in their part about UHV equipment that they have a Pfeiffer PrismaPro QMS and a Pfeiffer CF DN100 or CF DN160 turbopump, I recognize the shape/color from anywhere since the PrismaPro has a hexagonal enclosure while every other company uses box enclosures.
Since their equipment is mostly assembly, what I'm most interested in is their chemistry. Their electronic materials page has alot of the CVD gases you need including some very tough to handle and synthesize ones like AsH3 and fluorochemicals. I don't see a critical etch gas though: NF3.
It must have been almost 10 years ago when i last worked with openCL for a internship. Back then it was pretty even when it come to the ecosystem. But i could already see Nvidia pumping more money into their community and library support. That was also back when AMD was almost as good as death so there was not really a sponsor for openCL to make sure the ecosystem takes off.
Huahai Qingke: CMP equipment has achieved full coverage of all processes in the 28nm process
According to micronet news, on September 5, the investor relations activity record sheet disclosed by Huahai Qingke Co., Ltd. shows that the company's CMP equipment has achieved full coverage of all processes of the 28nm process and is currently available in batches; several key components of the 14nm process Process CMP equipment has been validated at the client side simultaneously.
Regarding "when will the full-scale breakthrough of 14nm be achieved", Huahai Qingke said that it mainly depends on the customer's process rhythm, and the company is very confident in CMP technology and process.
According to reports, in terms of thinning equipment, Huahai Qingke's thinning and polishing integrated machine has been delivered to designated customers in accordance with the task book of the national major special project undertaken by the company. It is now in the verification stage, and the thinning machine used in the packaging field is on schedule. proceed smoothly. Its thinning equipment is currently mainly used in two application fields. The first is the 3D IC manufacturing process. With the continuous promotion of advanced process applications such as chip stacking, it can provide customers with a process machine that integrates "thinning + polishing" to To meet the needs of customers; The second is the chip packaging process, the company's 12-inch ultra-precision thinning machine for the packaging field is progressing smoothly as planned.
Regarding "when will the full-scale breakthrough of 14nm be achieved", Huahai Qingke said that it mainly depends on the customer's process rhythm, and the company is very confident in CMP technology and process.
According to reports, in terms of thinning equipment, Huahai Qingke's thinning and polishing integrated machine has been delivered to designated customers in accordance with the task book of the national major special project undertaken by the company. It is now in the verification stage, and the thinning machine used in the packaging field is on schedule. proceed smoothly. Its thinning equipment is currently mainly used in two application fields. The first is the 3D IC manufacturing process. With the continuous promotion of advanced process applications such as chip stacking, it can provide customers with a process machine that integrates "thinning + polishing" to To meet the needs of customers; The second is the chip packaging process, the company's 12-inch ultra-precision thinning machine for the packaging field is progressing smoothly as planned.
grui Electric Materials: Semiconductor-grade high-purity sulfuric acid has been sold to Hefei Jinghe, Xiamen Lianxin, etc.
Jiwei.com news, recently, Jingrui Electric Materials said in an investigation by an agency that the company's first-phase 30,000-ton semiconductor-grade high-purity sulfuric acid production line has been successfully opened. It has reached the level of the first echelon in the same industry in the world, and the product technical indicators can meet the requirements of all current advanced integrated circuit technology nodes. At present, the product has been sold to well-known semiconductor customers such as Hefei Jinghe and Xiamen Lianxin, and is currently being sold to many mainstream customers. Intensive cross-line testing, the second-phase 60,000-ton project of semiconductor-grade high-purity sulfuric acid is under active construction, and the major equipment-related manufacturers ordered are actively producing, and it is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
At present, the main competitors of the company's electronic grade sulfuric acid include Hubei Xingfu Electronic Materials Co., Ltd., Zhongjuxin Technology Co., Ltd., BASF, and Japan's Kanto Chemical.
In terms of raw material supply, the company has a relatively complete raw material supply chain, and has established long-term strategic partnerships with some high-quality suppliers. Controllable, and further reduce the operating risks caused by fluctuations in raw material prices. In terms of production and manufacturing, the company has established production bases in many places to ensure that it has the production and manufacturing capacity to meet the diverse and multi-regional needs of customers. In the face of varying degrees of rise in related raw materials, the company will digest the cost pressure brought about by the rise in some raw materials by means of internal cost reduction. At the same time, make appropriate adjustments to the price of the product.
Jingrui Electric said that the energy transformation is accelerating, and the problem of "lack of cores" in high-end fields such as photovoltaics and new energy vehicles is still serious. The company's sales in the first half of 2022 will continue to grow steadily. Facing the cyclical nature of the market, the company will continue to optimize product structure, improve product technology, and enhance market competitiveness; at the same time, make full use of scale advantages, effectively reduce product costs, and actively respond to external market changes. In addition, the slowdown in the growth rate of the semiconductor industry has also created conditions for companies to accelerate import substitution. In the case of declining capacity utilization, wafer fabs will have greater pressure to reduce costs, thereby accelerating the introduction of domestic materials. At the same time, there will be more time windows to open idle production lines for cross-line import testing.
At present, except for the 90,000-ton high-purity sulfuric acid production capacity layout of Jiangsu Yangheng, the holding subsidiary, and the high-purity sulfuric acid production capacity plan of Hubei Jingrui, the company's joint-stock company, there is currently no other high-purity sulfuric acid expansion plan.
It is reported that the company's main products such as ultra-clean and high-purity chemicals and some supporting reagent materials are used in the photovoltaic industry, but the current sales and operating income of these products are relatively low.
Kewell plans to build a semiconductor testing and intelligent manufacturing equipment industrial park project of 450 million yuan
Kewell Technology Co., Ltd. announced that it plans to invest 450 million yuan to build a semiconductor testing and intelligent manufacturing equipment industrial park project. Among them, 300 million yuan of over-raised funds are planned to be used, and the rest of the funds are raised by the company. The industrial park project plans to build a professional advanced industrial park with a construction area of about 85,000 square meters and an estimated construction period of 2 years.
According to reports, Kewell has been in the field of fuel cell and power semiconductor testing since 2016 and 2017, respectively. In 2021, it acquired a bonding machine company. It has been deeply involved in the testing power supply industry for many years, and has formed a testing power supply, hydrogen energy testing and intelligent manufacturing. Equipment, power semiconductor testing and intelligent manufacturing equipment three major product lines, and has accumulated a number of industry leading customers and high-quality customers.
In the power semiconductor industry, Kewell's products mainly serve performance testing and reliability testing in the R&D and production of power modules, and provide automated production solutions. The power semiconductor testing and intelligent manufacturing equipment product line mainly includes IGBT dynamic testing system, IGBT static testing system, SiC dynamic testing system, power device thermal characteristic testing system, IGBT automated testing workstation and IGBT packaging and testing production line and other products.
At present, in the field of power semiconductor testing, Kewell has achieved order delivery to many customers, accumulating industry reputation. In particular, with the rapid development of domestic new energy vehicles, the demand for SIC devices is strong. Kewell SIC dynamic testing machine has completed the research and development, and has entered the trial sample delivery stage in many customers. In the first half of 2022, the power semiconductor testing and intelligent manufacturing equipment product line achieved operating income of 17.7927 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 548.56%.
Shengjisheng high-end integrated circuit equipment and key components project, Air Liquide bulk gas project signed in Pudong
On September 2, Shuyuan Town held a centralized signing ceremony for the implementation of industrial projects. The total investment of the signed projects was about 2.56 billion yuan. It is reported that the contracted projects this time involve integrated circuits and supporting production, rural revitalization industries, etc.At the beginning of this year, the construction of SMIC Lingang Base Project started, which is located in Shuyuan Town. Seizing the opportunity of the settlement of this major project, Shuyuan Town has accelerated the introduction of upstream and downstream integrated circuit supporting enterprises, and strived to build an ecosystem of the entire integrated circuit industry chain. At the same time, deepen cooperation with state-owned platforms such as Lingang Pudong Company, promote the construction of "Science and Innovation Pastoral" projects, strive to attract a group of "specialized, special and new" enterprises, and continuously cultivate high-quality tax sources.
On the same day, a total of 5 projects were signed on-site, covering key projects in line with the industrial orientation of the park, high-quality projects that help the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, and cooperation projects that consolidate the foundation of the real economy.
Among them, Shengjisheng's high-end integrated circuit equipment and key parts project, with an estimated total investment of 1.8 billion yuan, will gather high-end talents at home and abroad to carry out high-end equipment and core parts business, realize the integration of research and development, production and sales management, and provide SMIC International and other domestic major integrated circuit manufacturing enterprises supporting. The project is expected to be put into production within 36 months after the land is handed over, and the production will be reached within 5 years after the handover.
Shanghai Lingang bulk gas project - Air Liquide (Shanghai) Industrial Gas Co., Ltd., with an estimated total investment of 700 million yuan, will continue to provide SMIC (Lingang) with clean process gas for its chip manufacturing. In order to meet the production needs of SMIC, Air Liquide will build a bulk gas plant next to the SMIC site, which will supply high-purity gas products.
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