Germany Carl Zeiss, heart of Dutch ASML Lithography Equipment.

t2contra said:

It did not actually say the "25% will go to 10% in a tit for tat if the UK doesnt succumb to US pressure to outright ban Huawei". That decision is not dependent on whether the UK succumb. But correct me if I'm wrong.

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tidalwave said:

The VC group asked me to give a cost estimate to buy equipments and parts and setup a demo in the lab.
Well, it's not simple. I will break it down into 3 domains. 1 is the Laser unit that generate EUV light. 2 is the mirror needed for the optical system. 3 is the overall optical system design on how the EUV light propograte.
I suggest they would start on 2, acquire the manufacture knowhow of the mirror. 3, i already got that software and I will give to them along with application files that use this software. I suggest to them to partner up with a univeristy and let the whole group of engineering student play with software until they very proficient in it and start simulate the optical system. The software change change to EUV light based on wavelength and mirror stackup for simulation.
For 3, it's bit hard, meanwhile I acquire the parts to do a proof of concept, master oscillator and amplifier output. Not exactly the same output as the real EUV light generation and but demo of the architecture needed.

For 2, acquiring the knowhow for EUV mirror manufacturing. Since its silicon substrate and on top of it, its Molybenum and Silicon each one is about 3.4nm thick. There 40 layers of them.
I surveyed the chinese market there are DC magnetron Sputtering system for deposition. But I not sure how reliable they are. I may suggest them just use a Fab service like SMIC, HuaHong for making mirror, its like making the chip, dimension wise.

Next is milling for roughness of surface of the mirror down to the spec. Milling would use focused Ion Beam (FIB) tool, each system in US cost $500K. There are couple vendors in Beijing capable of doing Electron Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM), but its not quite FIB. FIB uses Ga+ ion instead of electron to bombard the surface of the mirror to mill or chip the material an atom at a time.
I would suggest to pay the engineering service and cost of one unit to beijing vendor to modifiy its SEM into a FIB. Once they do that, the VC group would retain the IP to the FIB since they pay for engineering service.

Next is the Interferometer + Microscope to profile the mirror surface, the laser interferometer would measure the peak and valley of surface of the mirror. Again, I would suggest to pay for engineering service to acquire such system., There are already chinese vendors capable of doing interferometer , microscope but not combining together. And also write the software for this tool.

So, i suggest them to pay for the engineering service for these two tools and therefore they acquire two core technologies for EUV mirror.

so, this is just starting point of ambitious project that would change the supply chain landscape in China. I don't suggets and go the route of buying ready made western tools try to do something because you don't change your underlying supply chain, you will never cure the fundamental problem.

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ougoah said:

Seems like this thread may have people who would know what advantages Huawei has over Ericsson when it comes to 5G tech.

Ericsson ceo is claiming Ericsson is not behind Huawei in any respect. Is this totally true or is it just another ceo saying what CEOs say

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Tougher Huawei Restrictions Stall After Defense Department Objects

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Proposed changes to further limit American shipments to Huawei have been delayed amid arguments they could backfire.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has temporarily shelved a proposed rule change that would further restrict American sales to Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, after some officials in the Defense Department and other agencies argued that the measure, which was intended to protect national security, could actually undermine it, according to people familiar with the matter.

The rule change, which was being reviewed by multiple government agencies, would close a loophole that allowed technology companies like Intel and Micron to continue shipping chips, software and other products to Huawei despite a ban that prevented the Chinese company from buying some American products.

Some government officials have objected to the tougher restrictions, arguing it could discourage the use of American components abroad, weakening American firms and the country’s technological competitiveness.

The rule has been withdrawn from the Office of Management and Budget, effectively putting the tighter limits on hold. The change, along with other China technology issues, will be discussed in an upcoming meeting of President Trump’s top advisers, though a date has yet to be set, one of the people said.

The measure is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to combat what it describes as a pressing security threat: China’s acquisition of advanced technologies that could give the country both a commercial and a military edge. Many of those efforts have focused on Huawei, which sells global telecom equipment that American officials fear will give Beijing new channels for control and surveillance. Huawei says its networks are secure and that it does not spy for the Chinese government.

Tensions between the United States and China have eased since the countries concluded a Phase 1 trade deal. But the fate of Huawei, and the American companies that supply it, continues to hang in the balance. Last May, the Trump administration placed Huawei on a United States blacklist and moved to cut off shipments of certain goods, software and technology to the Chinese firm. In order to keep selling certain products to Huawei, companies had to apply for — and obtain — a special license.

The restrictions threatened to cut off lucrative sales for a number of American tech companies that supplied components to Huawei, including Intel, Micron and Google. Some firms, eager to continue selling to Huawei, took advantage of

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without a government license, as long as the products contained less than 25 percent of certain types of sensitive American content.

The proposed measure, which only applies to Huawei, would lower that threshold from 25 percent to 10 percent. It would also expand the rule so that all types of American content would count toward that 10 percent threshold.

Such a change would expand the rule’s reach beyond sensitive types of technology to include American software, chips and other components that are widely available and that Huawei could easily purchase from Taiwanese, Korean and Japanese manufacturers instead.

The exceptions to the existing rules have allowed Huawei to continue purchasing many of the components it needs to make its telecom networks and smartphones from American suppliers. That has allowed Huawei — the third largest purchaser of chips globally after Apple and Samsung — to

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, defying expectations within the tech industry and in Washington. Huawei said its sales in 2019 topped $120 billion, representing 18 percent growth over the year before — less than its initial target, but not by much.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei, said he expected the United States to continue escalating its campaign against Huawei, but was “confident we can survive even further attacks.”

Some trade experts say the Trump administration should have anticipated that business with Huawei would continue, since American controls on exports are designed to target only sensitive material and technologies, and otherwise allow commerce to flow unheeded.

But some administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, have been surprised that placing Huawei on the entity list, which designates companies that the United States considers a security or foreign policy threat, did not halt more business with the company.

In

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on Thursday, Mr. Ross said Huawei had been “encouraging American companies to flaunt U.S. laws,” which had attracted the Commerce Department’s attention. He added that revisions to the rules were “works in progress that will come out in the near term.”

The rule, which was being considered by officials at the Commerce, Defense, Treasury, State and Energy departments, was designed to be implemented before giving industry a chance to comment on it.

The Commerce Department has also been weighing a separate rule change that would expand its jurisdiction over items manufactured overseas with American technology. People familiar with the planning said that policymakers were potentially considering a far more expansive measure, but that the rule was still in the drafting stage.

continued...

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...continued

The proposed measures have not been made public, and their exact scope is unclear. But reports of their existence have generated panic among companies most directly affected and parts of the defense industry, said current and former government officials.

American tech companies have complained that the changes would backfire,

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rather than protecting them. Those changes could be

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, where Huawei can switch to purchasing products from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan or elsewhere instead.

In a Dec. 5 letter to Mr. Ross, which was viewed by The New York Times, a collection of industry groups, including the Semiconductor Industry Association and the National Association of Manufacturers, wrote that the changes could reduce innovation and competitiveness in American industry, cause customers abroad to stop purchasing American technology and accelerate the offshoring of manufacturing and research.

“While we fully understand the paramount importance of maintaining our national security, we believe these actions would have serious negative consequences for U.S. economic leadership and, ultimately, U.S. national security,” the letter said.

Within government, the battle lines are blurred.

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over how aggressively the government should regulate industry. Some defense officials have concerns about how the rule change will impact key military suppliers. Other senior defense officials believe the national security case for cutting Huawei off from American components overrides other concerns.

Officials said the disagreement could ultimately be resolved in the next few weeks and that the rule could still move forward.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Sue Gough, said the department was aware of Commerce’s proposed rule change, but “will not prematurely discuss ongoing interagency collaboration.”

A spokesman for the Commerce Department said “if or when we have something to announce, we will do so.”

The Trump administration has been leading

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to try to discourage other leaders, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United Emirates and India, from allowing Huawei to construct the next generation of telecom networks, with limited success.

Mr. Trump’s advisers warn that allowing Huawei — and other Chinese companies — to build fifth generation, or 5G, networks could compromise intelligence sharing between the United States and its allies. But

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complained that the United States government has not provided evidence that Huawei poses a real threat.

The American crackdown has prompted Huawei to try and reduce its dependence on the United States.

It has recently produced handsets and telecom equipment that do not contain any American components. The company has found substitutes for some parts from suppliers in other countries, including Japan, and its in-house semiconductor unit, HiSilicon, has developed replacements for some advanced chips.

The proposed rule change would likely accelerate these efforts, and could persuade companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, which uses many American parts, to halt purchases from the United States, at least temporarily, Paul Triolo, practice head of geo-technology for Eurasia Group, wrote in a note to clients.

Industry executives say other Chinese companies are concluding that American companies are also unreliable suppliers, given the administration’s China crackdown. Manufacturers of computers, air-conditioners, medical devices and other products are canceling their contracts with American firms and turning to European and Japanese products, they said.


“We want U.S.-origin technology to be consumed, we want that to be the industry standard,” said Scott Jones, a nonresident fellow with the Stimson Center. “We don’t want it to be designed out.”

But Clyde Prestowitz, the president of the Economic Strategy Institute, said the short-term costs to American companies would be worth it.

“We are engaged in a non-shooting but completely serious tech war. Keeping the most advanced chips and chip making equipment out of China will slow them down,” Mr. Prestowitz said. “So, the whining of the corporate C.E.O.s is really completely short sighted.”

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