Chinese semiconductor industry
- Thread starter Hendrik_2000
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Looked through this more here
very interesting approach. RISC-V core + ARM GPU + proprietary NPU.
So whatever device or server using this can do regular operation, do video encoding/decoding as well as AI inference.
D2D interconnect is quite interesting. I wonder how this compares to other interconnect on the market
C2C mesh is also interesting when it comes to creating IPU accelerator card.
let's hope this and similar chip designs make in road in market share
Key project in Tianjin, Luling Gas R&D and production base goes into operation
According to news from Tianjin Economic Development Zone Yida, the Lvling Gas Nangang R&D and production base is a key project in Tianjin and an important production base invested and constructed by Lvling Gas in Tianjin. The project has a total investment of 320 million yuan and covers an area of 85 acres. It has multiple functional areas such as factory exhibition hall, central control room, R&D center, analysis room, production workshop, raw material warehouse and 19 production lines. It is a combination of R&D, production , warehousing, display and sales are all integrated into a comprehensive production base.
It is reported that after the production base is fully put into operation, it will be able to produce 6,000 tons of more than 40 kinds of electronic specialty gas products annually, serving high-precision fields such as semiconductor integrated circuits, photovoltaics, and optical fibers.
So far，there is no YMTC SSD on mainstream phones，don't know the reason
China Customs: China’s semiconductor equipment imports reached 63.4 billion yuan in Q3. A surge of 93% year-on-year
A survey found that from July to September 2023, mainland China's imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased by more than 90% compared with the same period last year. Japanese media observation pointed out that despite the United States tightening export controls on manufacturing equipment, mainland China has still achieved success in cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing. However, in the context of the United States’ increased vigilance against China, if its export controls are further strengthened, the “China strategy” of semiconductor equipment manufacturers will You may also be forced to adjust.
"Nihon Keizai Shimbun" investigated the import trends of "machines and equipment for manufacturing semiconductor devices or integrated circuits" through data released by the Mainland China Customs Administration. It showed that the import value of equipment from July to September increased by 93% year-on-year to 634. billion. Among them, imports from the Netherlands have the most obvious growth (6.1 times), while lithography machine-related fields have increased to 3.9 times.
According to reports, photolithography is a core process of semiconductor manufacturing. Mainland China’s imports of photolithography machines from the Netherlands have increased by 6.2 times, and most of them are believed to come from ASML, a large Dutch company. As the United States launches export controls on China in October 2022, the Netherlands has also tightened export controls on manufacturing equipment. Starting from September 2023, the export requirements for some lithography machines used in cutting-edge products will be reviewed and issued by the state.
In Asmore's operating income from July to September 2023, mainland China accounted for 46%, a significant increase compared with 14% in 2022. In the financial report released in October, it explained its business for China, "While complying with export controls, we are supplying lithography systems for mature and intermediate generations (semiconductors)."
Reports indicate that the possibility of imported equipment being diverted to manufacturing cutting-edge products still exists. Under the US government's export controls, mainland China has also found blind spots in the encirclement network and honed its cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technology. For example, the smartphone launched by mainland communications giant Huawei in August was equipped with a 7-nanometer semiconductor that was analyzed by multiple investigation companies and believed to be produced by mainland semiconductor company Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
At the same time, mainland China's imports of equipment from Japan are also increasing, with an increase of 40% from July to September compared with the same period last year. In addition to the increase in imports of photolithography machines, devices used for substrate surface formation also increased by 20%; imports from the United States only increased by 20%, and the proportion of mainland equipment import sources dropped from 17% in 2021 to 9%. Japan's proportion dropped from 32% to 25%, and the Netherlands quickly increased from around 15% to 30%.
The U.S. government announced new export controls on October 17, adding more categories of equipment to be managed. Reports indicate that if U.S. equipment manufacturers continue to be at a disadvantage to Japan and the Netherlands in their operations in mainland China, the two countries may be required to adopt stricter control measures.
Statistics from industry group SEMI show that mainland China's share of the world's semiconductor equipment revenue was 29% from April to June this year, ranking first in the world. Japanese companies are also highly dependent. The direction of U.S. regulatory measures may also have an impact on Japanese companies’ China strategies.
Unrelated, but YMTC really needs to develop a UFS 4.0 compliant version of their VNAND. Given their advantage in interconnect speed and bandwidth versus the competitors the product would really shine with that interface. Right now their products are UFS 3.1 compliant but that like half the bandwidth per lane.
As for no one using their products, might be because the US has sanctions on sales of YMTC products.
Northern Huachuang's patent for "a semiconductor equipment, its wafer transfer chamber and wafer transfer method" was authorized
Tianyancha shows that Beijing North Huachuang Microelectronics Equipment Co., Ltd.’s patent for a semiconductor device and its wafer transfer chamber and wafer transfer method has been authorized. The authorization announcement date is November 14.
Sky Eye Check shows that Beijing North Huachuang Microelectronics Equipment Co., Ltd.'s patent for "a semiconductor device, its wafer transfer chamber and wafer transfer method" has been authorized. The authorization announcement date is November 14, and the authorization announcement number is CN111261565B.
The patent abstract shows that the present invention discloses a semiconductor equipment, a wafer transfer chamber and a wafer transfer method thereof, wherein the wafer transfer chamber includes an air extraction component for extracting air from the chamber body; mark A detection component, located in the chamber body, is used to detect the alignment mark on the wafer; a positioning calibration component, located in the chamber body, is used to carry the wafer, drive the wafer to rotate, and adjust the mark on the wafer. After detecting the alignment mark, the detection component gradually stops rotating so that the wafer stops at a preset position.
It is reported that the beneficial effect of the present invention is that during the process of vacuuming the wafer transfer chamber, the alignment mark of the wafer is detected through the mark detection component, and the positioning calibration of the wafer is realized through the positioning calibration component, which is carried out step by step. The steps (wafer positioning calibration and chamber vacuuming) are combined in one step at the same time, which shortens the wafer transfer time and improves the efficiency of the machine.
Sky Eye Check shows that Beijing North Huachuang Microelectronics Equipment Co., Ltd.'s patent for "a semiconductor device, its wafer transfer chamber and wafer transfer method" has been authorized. The authorization announcement date is November 14, and the authorization announcement number is CN111261565B.
The patent abstract shows that the present invention discloses a semiconductor equipment, a wafer transfer chamber and a wafer transfer method thereof, wherein the wafer transfer chamber includes an air extraction component for extracting air from the chamber body; mark A detection component, located in the chamber body, is used to detect the alignment mark on the wafer; a positioning calibration component, located in the chamber body, is used to carry the wafer, drive the wafer to rotate, and adjust the mark on the wafer. After detecting the alignment mark, the detection component gradually stops rotating so that the wafer stops at a preset position.
It is reported that the beneficial effect of the present invention is that during the process of vacuuming the wafer transfer chamber, the alignment mark of the wafer is detected through the mark detection component, and the positioning calibration of the wafer is realized through the positioning calibration component, which is carried out step by step. The steps (wafer positioning calibration and chamber vacuuming) are combined in one step at the same time, which shortens the wafer transfer time and improves the efficiency of the machine.
AMEC is listed on Forbes China’s “Top 50 Most Innovative Enterprises in China” list for the third time
In the " China's Top 50 Innovative Enterprises 2023 " list released by Forbes China on November 9 , China Micro Semiconductor Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ("China Microelectronics", stock code: 688012) ranked for the third time list, the company's comprehensive strength and innovation capabilities have once again won industry awards and professional recognition.
AMEC continues to promote the implementation of a high-quality growth strategy driven by R&D innovation and maintains a high level of R&D investment, which provides guarantee for the company to focus on independent R&D and innovation of high-end micro-processing equipment. In the first three quarters of 2023, the company invested 788 million yuan in R&D, and R&D investment accounted for 19.49% of operating income. As of the end of September 2023, AMEC has a number of independent intellectual property rights and core technologies, and has applied for 2,407 patents, of which invention patents accounted for more than 84% and reached 2,024.
In the process of product development, design and manufacturing, Sinomicro continues to practice the " Ten Principles of Product Development " in the "Four Ten" and always emphasizes innovation and differentiation. Through continuous breakthrough innovation, its technical capabilities have reached the leading level in the world. level. The series of etching equipment and MOCVD equipment developed by the company have reached the international advanced level in performance, and some products are world leaders in their segments. Among them, the technical capabilities of etching equipment have reached 5 nanometer and more advanced process levels, and MOCVD equipment has a far leading market share in the field of Mini LED gallium nitride-based equipment. At the same time, the research and development of many new products such as thin film deposition equipment such as LPCVD and ALD are progressing smoothly.
China Micro's comprehensive competitive advantage continues to strengthen, and various operational KPI indicators have reached and in some aspects exceeded the level of international advanced semiconductor equipment companies. Over the past decade, the company's operating income has continued to grow at an average annual growth rate of over 35%. In the first three quarters of 2023, the company's performance continued to maintain rapid growth, with operating income increasing by 32.80% year-on-year to 4.041 billion yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent company increasing by 46.27% year-on-year to 1.160 billion yuan.
I'm not sure the UFS thing is the work of OEM，or third party controller.
I don't US sanction has anything to do with it，because even Huawei is not using YMTC product on their phone. I think it has more to do with the UFS thing you mentioned, just like no one use CXMT LPDDR4 on phone， because nowadays everybody moved to LPDDR5 already
"Viola" is the first and only Russian OS running on Chinese processors with Loongarch64 architecture
Basalt SPO has prepared a technological assembly of the Viola operating systems (OS) based on Chinese processors with the Loongarch64 architecture. This is the first and only Russian OS that works with this hardware platform.
The assembly was performed with the Xfce graphical environment based on the unstable (experimental) branch of the Sisyphus project repository1. In the future, it is planned to release OS distributions of the Viola family for Loongarch64.
Already now, Viola OS for Loongarch64 can be installed on laptops, workstations and servers and work with a basic set of programs, such as the LibreOffice office suite, the Firefox browser, the GIMP graphic editor (a free analogue of Adobe Photoshop) and others.
You can download and test the assembly for the Loongarch64 architecture using the link .
“Basalt SPO presents a unique technology - the first operating system in Russia for the Loongarch64 architecture. Processors based on it have appeared on the Russian market quite recently, which means that organizations and enterprises have to undertake large-scale work to adapt the software to work with Chinese architecture. “Alt” operating systems can become a platform for testing such products,” said Sergey Trandin, CEO of Basalt SPO.
The developers of Basalt SPO managed to adapt the Viola OS to fully work with Loongarch64 in just 9 months. Such a quick result was made possible by automating the assembly process using a unique technology - catch-up assembly of packages. When new programs appear in the main repository, the robot automatically creates a task to assemble similar programs for “catching up” platforms. The need to involve developers in this process still remains: for example, some packages are interconnected, and only a person can break the dependencies; however, the robot can report the presence of such connections.
“Catch-up assembly technology significantly speeds up the process of adapting the OS for new architectures,” shared Sergey Trandin. —Initially, packages for Loongarch64 were assembled “by hand”—assembling the first thousand took about six months. In July, a builder was set up for this platform, and the process went much faster. Today, the Sisyphus project repository has collected more than 16 thousand software packages for Chinese architecture, and their database is constantly being updated. The source code for the Loongarch64 repository packages has also been published and is being developed as part of the Sisyphus project. A quick result was also obtained thanks to the accumulated experience of the Basalt SPO developers.”
Viola OS runs on 8 architectures: the main ones - i586, x86 64 , aarch64, armh, ppc64le, and the "catching up" ones - Elbrus, mipsel, riscv64. The experience of creating OS for these hardware platforms was used when porting to Loongarch64.
Representatives of the Chinese company that developed processors with the Loongarch architecture provided active support to the Basalt open source software developers: they provided the community with all the detailed documentation, modern servers for testing the OS, and also took an active part in the work of free software developers, implementing and promoting support for Loongarch.
“Basalt SPO’s experience in creating one of the largest software repositories in the world will be very useful in promoting Russian processors and entire software and hardware ecosystems in Southeast Asia,” shared Valentin Makarov, President of NP RUSSOFT. “For now this seems like a fantasy, but even on the scale of RUSSOFT we have everything necessary to work out at least a pilot promotion.”
According to Sergei Trandin, CEO of Basalt SPO, processors with the Loongarch64 architecture have a significant advantage: Chinese developers provide all the necessary technical documentation for their solutions, which allows them to be used at critical information infrastructure facilities. In addition, the processors have already been put into mass production, and therefore they can be considered as a real alternative to their Western counterparts.
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