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Is 3D chiplets a new method or technology? how good is it compared to Intel and AMD current technology?
Chinese semiconductor industry
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Is 3D chiplets a new method or technology? how good is it compared to Intel and AMD current technology?
it is leading edge technology used by AMD (but they use it in a more conservative 2.5D package) and YMTC (one of the first in the world to apply it to memory).
If this is the prevailing attitude in India with regards to tech in which it is lagging, the India will continue to remain lagging by a huge margin.
Semiconductors: Why India Should Not Make Chips
The global supply crisis in semiconductors has led many to suggest India should create chip fabrication facilities (fabs). But the politics and economics of semiconductors are far too complex for such a solution to be feasible.
Ajay Srivastava | October 12, 2021, 10:59 IST
Chips are to this century what oil was to the last. No wonder there is intense rivalry among countries. The US and China are at the two ends of the chip universe.
Chips are to this century what oil was to the last. No wonder there is intense rivalry among countries. The US and China are at the two ends of the chip universe.
The global supply crisis in semiconductors has led many to suggest India should create chip fabrication facilities (fabs). But the politics and economics of semiconductors are far too complex for such a solution to be feasible.
Why is there a global chip fight?
Chips are to this century what oil was to the last. No wonder there is intense rivalry among countries. The US and China are at the two ends of the chip universe.
The US controls IP, design and technology. Japan makes silicon wafers on which chip circuitry is etched. The Netherlands produces lithography machines that etch circuitry onto wafers. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has the biggest and most sophisticated fabs that make chips on order for anyone. South Korea, led by Samsung, also has advanced fabs.
On the other end is China, the largest chip buyer, consuming 60% of all chips produced globally. Its annual chip import bill exceeds $300 billion. China’s plan to develop a local semiconductor industry has alarmed the US.
In the last two decades, China succeeded in making low-end chips, not a mean feat. But it failed to make advanced chips. To acquire such technology, around 2015, it tried buying firms in the US, Europe and Asia. But alert host governments blocked all such efforts.
China got a breakthrough when Huawei developed a chip for use in the 5G equipment. But, Huawei, like most others, had to rely on US firms for chip design. Acting quickly, the US, using export control laws in 2019, stopped its firms from helping Huawei. The US soon forced TSMC, Samsung, and other foreign suppliers to stop selling to Huawei to continue using US designs, equipment and tools. The US monopoly in the IP and chip design made the threat credible.
The chip shortage can lead to a geopolitical crisis
To retain control over the chip supply chain, the US has pressurised TSMC and others not to make chips for China. This means crippling of Chinese electronics and advanced technology industry. China responded by violating Taiwanese airspace many times this year. Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about the annexation of Taiwan.
There are three reasons India shouldn’t make chips
First, fabs need significant annual investments. You make an oil refinery, and it functions for 50 years with the same technology. Not for fabs. Intel, Samsung, TSMC and everyone else – each spends over $20 billion in R&D, process improvement and new fabrication machinery every year.
Second, fab technology is complex with very high failure rates. China is a case in point that even significant investments are no guarantee of success.
Just a square inch of a chip contains billions of transistors. Distance between two transistors is measured in nanometre (nm), which is one-billionth of a metre. Lower the distance, more the transistors in a small area, and more powerful the chip.
Currently, Apple’s iPhone 13 uses a 5-nm chip, the most advanced chip on a phone. Apple’s iPad may soon be the first product to use a 3-nm chip. Compared to a 5-nm chip, the 3-nm chip is 15% faster and consumes 25% less power. Contrast this with the most advanced chip made in China. Despite two decades of lavish government support, China could make only a 14-nm chip. This is at least two generations behind the 5-nm chip.
Third, the world will soon have surplus fab capacity. The US-China rivalry has spurred large investment in new fabs. The US government will spend $50 billion on chip manufacturing. Intel is building two fabs in Arizona for $20 billion. TSMC will spend $100 billion on new fabs. Many other proposals are being discussed.
So, what should India do?
Focus on parts of the chip value chain except fab. These contribute to 40% of the value chain revenue. Chip design and assembling, testing, and packaging (ATP) are the two segments of interest for India. Chip design involves using software tools to simulate the physics of chip circuitry. We may explore the participation of Indian engineers working at advanced chip design firms. With more than a trillion chips sold annually, the ATP industry generates millions of jobs and has low barriers to entry.
Semiconductor is the only major sector the US still dominates. It is seeking allies to develop a new supply chain, excluding China. India being an active Quad member, must play its cards well to participate in the fabless segment of the chip value chain.
(The writer is an Indian Trade Service officer. Views are personal)
If these chips are not made in China, if the United States says that they should not be manufactured, then they will not be manufactured. China is still extremely vulnerable as long as it does not possess the entire design and manufacturing capability and capacity domestically for any product worth producing. There is the good probability that the United States will act and force others to act as it wishes, even against their own and its own best economic interests.
Alibaba launches new server chip to boost its cloud business in challenge to Amazon and Microsoft
PUBLISHED MON, OCT 18 2021 10:14 PM EDT
Arjun Kharpal
@ARJUNKHARPAL
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KEY POINTS
Alibaba launched a new chip on Tuesday designed for servers as it looks to boost it the competitiveness of its cloud computing business.
The processor called Yitian 710 will go into new servers called Panjiu.
Alibaba sees cloud computing as a key part of its future growth and is looking to challenge U.S. giants including Amazon and Microsoft on the global stage.
In this article
BABA
GP: Alibaba Headquarters Hangzhou
Signage at the Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba launched a new server chip on Tuesday, as it looks to boost its cloud computing business and compete against U.S. rivals like Amazon.
The processor, called Yitian 710, will go into new servers called Panjiu.
The chip and servers will not be directly sold to customers. Instead, Alibaba's cloud computing clients will buy services based on these latest technology. These servers are designed for artificial intelligence applications and storage.
The company did not say when the services based on the latest chip and server will be available for customers.
Alibaba will not be manufacturing the semiconductor but will be designing it instead.
That's a trend among Chinese companies. Huawei designed its own smartphone chips and Baidu raised money this year for a standalone semiconductor business. U.S cloud computing rivals including Google and Amazon have also done the same.
Click here to view interactive content
Alibaba sees cloud computing as a key part of its future growth but it currently accounts for 8% of the company's total revenue. The e-commerce giant's cloud computing business saw slower growth in the June quarter after it lost a major customer that was using its cloud services overseas.
However, Alibaba is China's largest cloud computing player, according to market analyst firm Canalys, but rivals are investing heavily to catch up.
As U.S. sanctions continue to hit Huawei's smartphone business, the company is also looking to boost its revenue from cloud.
Alibaba has been trying to expand its cloud business internationally but still trails the likes of Amazon and Microsoft in terms of global market share.
Companies are investing in their own chips as a way to have custom-designed silicon that can power specific applications as a way to differentiate from the competition.
"Customizing our own server chips is consistent with our ongoing efforts toward boosting our computing capabilities with better performance and improved energy efficiency," Jeff Zhang, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said in a press release.
Alibaba's Yitian 710 chip is based on architecture from British semiconductor firm Arm, as well as using some of the latest manufacturing processes. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on which firm will be manufacturing the chip.
The Yitian 710 is not Alibaba's first foray into custom-designed semiconductors. In 2019, Alibaba launched its first AI chip called Hanguang 800.
The new server chip comes at a time when China's internet giants are facing intense scrutiny from domestic regulators looking to rein in some of their power and tighten rules around areas from anti-monopoly to data collection. In April, Alibaba was slapped with a $2.8 billion fine as a result of an antitrust investigation into the company.
However, semiconductors are an area where China is hoping to bolster its domestic capabilities as the country's industry still relies heavily on foreign technology.
Alibaba launches new server chip to boost its cloud business in challenge to Amazon and Microsoft
PUBLISHED MON, OCT 18 2021 10:14 PM EDT
Arjun Kharpal
@ARJUNKHARPAL
SHARE
KEY POINTS
Alibaba launched a new chip on Tuesday designed for servers as it looks to boost it the competitiveness of its cloud computing business.
The processor called Yitian 710 will go into new servers called Panjiu.
Alibaba sees cloud computing as a key part of its future growth and is looking to challenge U.S. giants including Amazon and Microsoft on the global stage.
In this article
BABA
GP: Alibaba Headquarters Hangzhou
Signage at the Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba launched a new server chip on Tuesday, as it looks to boost its cloud computing business and compete against U.S. rivals like Amazon.
The processor, called Yitian 710, will go into new servers called Panjiu.
The chip and servers will not be directly sold to customers. Instead, Alibaba's cloud computing clients will buy services based on these latest technology. These servers are designed for artificial intelligence applications and storage.
The company did not say when the services based on the latest chip and server will be available for customers.
Alibaba will not be manufacturing the semiconductor but will be designing it instead.
That's a trend among Chinese companies. Huawei designed its own smartphone chips and Baidu raised money this year for a standalone semiconductor business. U.S cloud computing rivals including Google and Amazon have also done the same.
Click here to view interactive content
Alibaba sees cloud computing as a key part of its future growth but it currently accounts for 8% of the company's total revenue. The e-commerce giant's cloud computing business saw slower growth in the June quarter after it lost a major customer that was using its cloud services overseas.
However, Alibaba is China's largest cloud computing player, according to market analyst firm Canalys, but rivals are investing heavily to catch up.
As U.S. sanctions continue to hit Huawei's smartphone business, the company is also looking to boost its revenue from cloud.
Alibaba has been trying to expand its cloud business internationally but still trails the likes of Amazon and Microsoft in terms of global market share.
Companies are investing in their own chips as a way to have custom-designed silicon that can power specific applications as a way to differentiate from the competition.
"Customizing our own server chips is consistent with our ongoing efforts toward boosting our computing capabilities with better performance and improved energy efficiency," Jeff Zhang, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said in a press release.
Alibaba's Yitian 710 chip is based on architecture from British semiconductor firm Arm, as well as using some of the latest manufacturing processes. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on which firm will be manufacturing the chip.
The Yitian 710 is not Alibaba's first foray into custom-designed semiconductors. In 2019, Alibaba launched its first AI chip called Hanguang 800.
The new server chip comes at a time when China's internet giants are facing intense scrutiny from domestic regulators looking to rein in some of their power and tighten rules around areas from anti-monopoly to data collection. In April, Alibaba was slapped with a $2.8 billion fine as a result of an antitrust investigation into the company.
However, semiconductors are an area where China is hoping to bolster its domestic capabilities as the country's industry still relies heavily on foreign technology.
this is a mostly gibberish article that gets literally everything said about the Chinese semiconductor industry wrong, but is indeed correct in its conclusions: a fab built in India is likely to have negative value, not just zero value.
@Weaasel bro especially that chip design is at 5nm, only two FABS produce them TSMC and Samsung, The chip was taped out in July and will be used in Alibaba Cloud data centers as the report said below. Since Alibaba majority stocks are foreign owned (Yahoo had the largest shares) it will not be sanction.
from CnTechPost
Alibaba unveils ARM server chip Yitian 710, boasting strongest performance in the industry
2021-10-19 13:26:54 (GMT+8)
T-Head (Pingtouge Semiconductor), the semiconductor unit of Alibaba, today announced the Yitian 710, an in-house developed cloud chip, becoming another Chinese technology company to develop a server CPU.
The company said the chip is the industry's most powerful ARM server chip, outperforming the industry benchmark by 20 percent and improving power efficiency by more than 50 percent.
The chip was taped out in July and will be used in Alibaba Cloud data centers.
The Yitian 710 uses a 5nm process and houses up to 60 billion transistors on a single chip.
It is based on the latest ARMv9 architecture and contains a 128-core CPU with a maximum main frequency of 3.2GHz.
The chip integrates technologies such as DDR5 and PCIE5.0, which can effectively improve the transmission rate of the chip and can be adapted to different application scenarios of the cloud, according to the company.
To solve the bandwidth bottleneck under high concurrency conditions in cloud computing, Yitian 710 eases system congestion through a new algorithm, thus improving system efficiency and scalability.
Zhang Jianfeng, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said the Yitian 710 chip will not be sold, but mainly for Alibaba Cloud's own use.
"We will continue to work closely with partners such as Intel, Nvidia, AMD, ARM and others to provide more choices for our customers," he said.
Maybe that is why the US want to know TSMC and Samsung order books, so they can premature put Chinese companies on their entity lists to make sure they can't buy up inventory to bridge a multi year gap.@Weaasel bro especially that chip design is at 5nm, only two FABS produce them TSMC and Samsung, The chip was taped out in July and will be used in Alibaba Cloud data centers as the report said below. Since Alibaba majority stocks are foreign owned (Yahoo had the largest shares) it will not be sanction.
from CnTechPost
Alibaba unveils ARM server chip Yitian 710, boasting strongest performance in the industry
2021-10-19 13:26:54 (GMT+8)
T-Head (Pingtouge Semiconductor), the semiconductor unit of Alibaba, today announced the Yitian 710, an in-house developed cloud chip, becoming another Chinese technology company to develop a server CPU.
The company said the chip is the industry's most powerful ARM server chip, outperforming the industry benchmark by 20 percent and improving power efficiency by more than 50 percent.
The chip was taped out in July and will be used in Alibaba Cloud data centers.
The Yitian 710 uses a 5nm process and houses up to 60 billion transistors on a single chip.
It is based on the latest ARMv9 architecture and contains a 128-core CPU with a maximum main frequency of 3.2GHz.
The chip integrates technologies such as DDR5 and PCIE5.0, which can effectively improve the transmission rate of the chip and can be adapted to different application scenarios of the cloud, according to the company.
To solve the bandwidth bottleneck under high concurrency conditions in cloud computing, Yitian 710 eases system congestion through a new algorithm, thus improving system efficiency and scalability.
Zhang Jianfeng, president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said the Yitian 710 chip will not be sold, but mainly for Alibaba Cloud's own use.
"We will continue to work closely with partners such as Intel, Nvidia, AMD, ARM and others to provide more choices for our customers," he said.
@BlackWindMnt correct bro, it may take until 2025 for SMIC to able to produced a 5nm chip, IF SMEE/CETC is able to deliver an EUVL in 2023 (optimistic scenario). That timeline is TSMC FAB 21 operation date, So we can connect the dot. BUT if SMIC is able to produced a 7nm 3D chiplet using a domestic line in 2023 then it had a competitive chip rivalling that of 5nm performance. We are all hopeful as the Chinese IC trajectory are looking at 3D stacking as a possible solution.
Glory Semiconductor's Jiashan Plant was put into production to accelerate the localization of semiconductor packaging materials
Jiwei News, on October 19, Honor Semiconductor Materials (Jiashan) Co., Ltd. announced that its new factory at No. 1 Dingyang Road (Beichuang Science and Technology Industrial Park), Huimin Street, Jiashan County, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, officially started trial operation. The factory was established with a wholly-owned investment by Honor Electronic Materials (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. It aims to promote the development of Honor itself while helping to accelerate the pace of localization of semiconductor packaging materials.
In the commissioning ceremony of the 19th, the glory of Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. Chairman Liu Chunfeng in his speech that the glory of good governance since its inception in 2018, under the leadership of general manager Liu Guohua, company-wide conscientious, diligent, in less than three Within a year, the layout of full-size turnover packaging and transportation products from 1 inch to 12 inch wafers was completed, as well as the follow-up FOSB and FOUP development plans. At the same time, Glory has achieved profitability in 2020, which symbolizes that the company has taken a solid first step in its goal of becoming the first domestic semiconductor full-scale packaging and transportation solution. I believe that with the completion of the Jiashan factory, it will rely on the support of the government. , Industrial capital and talent advantages, and the support of a broad customer base, with the care and help of friends from all walks of life, Honor will definitely grow and develop in the future, and contribute to the Chinese semiconductor industry. It is worthy of the "Honor" name.
Chinese semiconductor industry localization continues step by step and nothing is being left behind.
China speed is unstoppable. The West has still not realised what a monster (for them) they have unleashed with their Trumpian actions
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