Chinese semiconductor industry

WE don't need this kind of politics, we are so near at having a domestic 7nm tech, I think this fellow Chiang is a saboteur out to wreck China IC development, He had already done it with Wuhan project.

from cntechpost

SMIC co-CEO Liang Mong Song said that he had no prior knowledge of SMIC's hiring of Chiang for the p ...

With addition of Honor it will spread the usage to multiple platform.

from cntechpost


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I don't know if official but Liang Mong Song resign , what the FXXK is going on in SMIC

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Yup it is set back definitely He is leading the charge. I don't know what are they thinking
Top Chinese Chipmaker Dives on Reports Co-CEO Abruptly Quit

Bloomberg News
Tue, December 15, 2020, 8:53 PM CST

(Bloomberg) -- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. plunged almost 10% Wednesday after disclosing it’s looking into reports about the surprise resignation of a top executive.
China’s largest chipmaker said it’s trying to reach co-Chief Executive Officer Liang Mong Song after online media outlets circulated a resignation letter they said originated with the industry veteran. Liang quit after SMIC appointed a vice chairman to the board without consulting him, according to the reports. The company is now attempting to clarify his intentions, it said in an exchange filing without elaborating. Liang couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

SMIC’s Shanghai shares dropped 7.2% after trading as much as 9.8% lower, the most intraday in three months. Its stock was suspended from trading in Hong Kong. Liang handed in his resignation after learning about the appointment of Chiang Shang-yi -- a former senior executive at larger rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. -- to the board, media including Taiwan’s Digitimes reported.

Liang, a fellow TSMC alumnus, was considered integral to SMIC’s efforts to become a major player in the business of fabricating wafers for global tech giants. The Shanghai-based firm, a supplier to Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Inc., lies at the heart of Beijing’s intention to build a world-class semiconductor industry and wean itself off a reliance on American technology. But it’s now also among a plethora of Chinese corporations Washington has labeled a national security threat, a designation that threatens to cripple its longer-term ambitions by denying it access to crucial gear and circuitry.

Read more: China Said to Plan Broad Chip Sector Support to Fight Trump
“SMIC’s recent technology progress was directly attributable to Liang,” Bernstein analysts including Mark Li wrote. “Though the addition of Chiang is a positive, as the vice chairman his role is advisory. Liang, however, has been personally leading SMIC’s technology development and his contribution directly resulted in the mass production of 14nm, for example. Considering them both, we believe Liang’s departure will have a bigger effect, and SMIC’s future technology progress may see a setback.

Hi Hendrick_2000,

The way I see it, maybe Liang Mong Song is cashing out due to US sanction on SMIC.

ansy1968 said:

I don't know if official but Liang Mong Song resign , what the FXXK is going on in SMIC

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Most likely, it's office politics gone wrong. Top management fears lead tech's influence/control of the company so they brought in someone to counter balance and regain control. Since they failed to do so in a subtle manner or wanted to send a message, the lead tech decided to resign instead of taking it on the chin. Liang and Jiang had bad blood between them at TSMC.

Given the timing, it's terrible news because Liang was in charge of SMIC's tech development.

These two gentlemen have a checkered history.

They both used to work at TSMC. Liang was the guy who developed TSMC's FinFET process which is used at 14nm. He then leaked data on the process to Samsung and was ejected and ended up at SMIC. At SMIC he was responsible for 14nm FinFET process and N and N+1 processes. There was talk in the past that there was friction between Liang, who wanted to pursue more advanced processes, and the other part of the management team who wanted to increase their capacity in older nodes which still had high demand to decrease capital costs.
I think with the sanctions and embargo SMIC management might have decided to go for older nodes with Chinese tools to ensure the economic viability of the business and that probably caused Liang to leave. But at this point SMIC already has N process working and N+1 is close enough to enter production it might as well be done. It is sad SMIC can't have it both ways anymore. With EUV tool imports under sanction there is little SMIC can do to go below 7nm. At least until Chinese EUV tools become available in a couple of years time.

ansy1968 said:

With addition of Honor it will spread the usage to multiple platform.

from cntechpost

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There is rumours that part of the

ansy1968 said:

I don't know if official but Liang Mong Song resign , what the FXXK is going on in SMIC

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This is allegedly a letter penned by Liang Mongsong with the reasons for his resignation.

Most significantly he says the N+1 Chip will go into production in April next year.

He also says that the designs for SMIC 5nm and 3nm Chips have already been done. Just awaiting the delivery of the Chinese made EUV Machine in order for the Chips full development and production to be carried out.
(Note that SMIC has placed an order for the ASML EUV Machine not too long ago and the designs of the 5nm and 3nm Chips have been done)

So i dont think Liang Mongsongs departure will have much significant effect as all their Chips right up to 3nm have already been designed.

The following is the full text of his resignation Liangmeng Song:

a letter to the board

chairman and the directors of you, you are good!

I know that we will make a very important personnel appointment decision at this meeting today.

Currently, SMIC is facing various pressures from the United States, leading to serious threats to the development of advanced technology. I believe that today's personnel proposal will definitely affect the company's prospects.

It has been more than three years since I was appointed as the co-CEO by the board of directors in November 2017. In these more than 1,000 days, I almost never took a vacation. Even in June 2019, when I was experiencing life At the most dangerous moment, I never gave up, and I never failed you all.

During this period, I tried my best to complete five generations of technology development from 28nm to 7nm. This is a task that an average company takes more than ten years to accomplish. And these results are obtained by more than 2,000 engineers led by me, working hard day and night. Of course, the past trust and support of the chairman and directors is also a key element of success.

I originally came to mainland China not to seek high-ranking officials, but simply to contribute to the mainland's high-end integrated circuits. At present, 28nm, 14nm, 12nm, and n+1 technologies have all entered mass production, and the development of 7nm technology has also been completed. Risk mass production will be available in April next year. The 8 most critical and most difficult technologies of 5nm and 3nm have also been carried out in an orderly manner. Only when the EUV lithography machine arrives, we can enter the full development stage.

It seems that my short-term goal seems to have exceeded expectations and was successfully achieved.

I received a call from the chairman of the board on December 9th, last Wednesday morning: Mr. Jiang is about to become the vice chairman of the company. I was very surprised and puzzled about this, because I didn't know anything about it beforehand. I deeply feel that I am no longer respected and distrusted. I think you should no longer need me here to continue to work hard for the company's prospects. I can rest for a while.

After the company’s board of directors and shareholders’ meeting have approved Mr. Jiang’s nomination, I will formally submit my resignation. But the company should give a comprehensive and fair evaluation of my contribution over the past three years, and I should have the right to accept and appeal.

I solemnly tell you that I do not have the slightest intention to influence your next vote on this personnel appointment, but I think I should let everyone know my true feelings.

My statement hopes that Ms. Guo Guangli, secretary of the board of directors, can be included in the official meeting minutes of this interim board of directors.

thank you all.

He is right. He was paramount in getting China to catch up and perhaps even surpass the US in process technology.
SMIC has arguably a better process than Intel which is the leading US vendor. He did that in record time. If you told me a decade ago SMIC would have done this I would have shrugged it off as impossible.
But he doesn't have access to tools to improve the process anymore.

It is as I expected he just wants a place to work which allows him to get to the leading edge of technology.
The reason he left TSMC to begin with was when he was taken out of the leading edge process design team.

hi gelgoog, WTAN,

So in the end, the lack of EUVL , the tools for research and the sanction is the reason for his resignation? So what can we expect from SMIC from now on, his presence there has created an impact his leaving may have created a greater impact, lets hope his team is up to the job or we may to wait for another decade to see major progress.

Where will be his next employment coming from, both TSMC and SAMSUNG is a no go, having burn their bridges with them. Intel or Huawei?