News on China's scientific and technological development.
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manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Who are you referring to? I have never heard of a Chinese elite or politician hint that they wish to modify Chinese behavior to appease the West much less budge an inch on Hong Kong/ROC. Not even in the SCS. It's political suicide in China. Who are you talking about?
A brief history from the founder of SMIC, the challenges and solution.
from cnTechPost
SMIC Founder: Next-gen semiconductors don't need big investment, talent is key
2020-08-05 20:59:02 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
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How do we understand the many restrictions the US has placed on China's high-tech industry?
Similar restrictions have been in place for a long time, said Richard Chang, founder and former CEO of China’s leading contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), at the Third Generation Semiconductor Development Opportunity Exchange Summit in China.
He said that attitudes have varied from administration to administration and that Trump's approach to China has been the toughest.
What's the reason for the massive crackdown on Chinese technology, mainly 5G communications, and the restrictions?
Richard Chang says that when the US found out that China was putting a lot of competitive pressure on it, the head of the US administration will want to go for a crackdown.
If fair competition doesn't win, it will take an administrative approach, he said.
He also mentioned that the US ability to constrain China is not as strong as it should be, but we should not take it lightly.
Richard Chang worked at Texas Instruments for 20 years before moving to Shanghai in April 2004 to found SMIC and become CEO.
In November 2009, he announced his departure from SMIC to enter the field of LED development and manufacturing and LED-related applications.
On August 4, Richard Chang also explained the current status of China's third-generation semiconductor industry at the conference.
Richard Chang said that the semiconductor industry requires long-term investment, especially in third-generation semiconductors, which follow not Moore's Law, but post Moore's Law.
The equipment for third-generation semiconductors is not particularly expensive, the line width is not very small, and the investment is not very big, but the materials are not easy to make, and the design needs to have advantages, he said.
Therefore, Richard Chang believes that the key to the development of the third-generation semiconductor industry is human resources, even if the investment is not large.
Here is what Richard Chang had to say at the Third Generation Semiconductor Development Opportunity Exchange Summit in China:
Currently, the United States has many restrictions on China's high-tech industry, but this did not start just now.
The Paris Coordinating Committee, which has been around since before 2000 (the organization was disbanded in April 1994), is also an international technology embargo.
More recently, there was the Wassenaar Agreement, which imposed embargoes on certain countries on high-tech technology, materials, equipment, and so on.
In 2000, when we returned to the Chinese mainland to build a chip factory, these restrictions were still in place, but the Bush administration was more supportive of China and gradually opened some restrictions during his term of office.
At SMIC, we had to apply for a license to introduce technologies, equipment, and products from the 0.18-micron level into the Chinese mainland.
We went to the United States to apply for 0.18 micron and 0.13 micron, and we got countersignatures from four departments of the US government, including the US State Department, the Commerce Department, the Defense Department, and the Department of Energy.
The Department of Energy is special in that it is afraid that we will make atomic bombs and other weapons, but we don't, so the Department of Energy usually goes through very quickly.
So, this restriction has always existed, but after 2000, it was gradually reduced, and we were able to apply for approval from 0.18 micron to 90 nm, 65 nm, and 45 nm.
And the 45nm technology was transferred from IBM, which was quite advanced at that time.
Since then, we have applied for 32 nm - a process that can be extended to 28 nm.
After that, I myself left SMIC and may not have continued to apply for technology below 28 nm, but I may not have needed it.
In short, different US presidents will have different strategies for restricting devices and so on, and Trump's strategy for China is the most stringent.
In the early days, the US Commerce Department was very supportive, and the Defense Department had a lot of opinions, but they were all approved after discussions among the four ministries.
But this time, the biggest resistance came from the US Department of Commerce, mainly because the US is lagging behind in 5G technology, so it wants China to slow down its development in the 5G field, and there are precedents for such restrictions.
At that time, Japanese memory technology was much more advanced than the US in terms of technology, design, and yield rate, so the US began to restrict Japan and later forced Japan to sign the Plaza Accord.
As you can see, Japan could not resist the pressure from the US, and the memory industry almost disappeared, with only one or two companies still surviving.
In terms of logic, Japan has no special advantage in the first place, and so far it is not the leader.
However, Japan's leadership is in analog and digital-analog mixing, and it has been doing well in components for automobiles and high-speed railways.
At that time, under the influence of the United States, Japan was greatly restricted in all aspects, and the pace of development slowed down.
However, Japan did not stop its pace, but to delve into the study of materials and equipment, so it is still very advanced in these aspects.
For example, about 51% of the world's 300 mm large silicon wafers are now produced by two companies, Shinetsu and Matsuguchi.
Japan is a leader in the field of photoresist, special chemicals, and materials.
In terms of equipment, Japan is also very advanced in photolithography, and other basic equipment can be produced independently, such as diffusion furnaces and LPC monoliths.
In general, however, Japan's equipment, especially in the memory sector, still took a big hit after the US imposed restrictions on Japanese technology.
However, this time, when the US found out that China was putting a lot of competitive pressure on it, the US administrator started to want to crack down on and restrict Chinese technology, mainly in 5G communications.
If China stays ahead of the curve on 5G technology, it will be well ahead in the future in communications, artificial intelligence, cloud services, etc., because China is strong in high-tech applications.
Shakespeare, which has been making a lot of noise lately, is much better than Facebook in the US, which is also a social networking site with a lot of interesting features, and it is instantly liked by many young people in the US.
Of course, you can also see that the person in charge of Facebook is talking very sourly, saying how China is not good, all out of jealousy.
If the US can't win a fair fight, it will take an administrative approach.
The US did it to Japan once in the 1980s, and starting in 2018, it's constraining 5G again, this time it's no longer against Japan.
The US is not as good at constraining China, but we should not take it lightly.
The first generation of semiconductor materials, the earliest use of germanium, and then from germanium to silicon, because of the production of silicon, technology development is also very good, so basically has completely replaced the germanium.
But below 40 nm, germanium is back in use, and germanium-silicon channels allow electron flow to be very fast.
The second generation is the use of compound semiconductor materials, such as our common is gallium arsenide or indium phosphide, these can be used in the field of amplifiers, early it is faster.
However, because arsenic is highly toxic, it is now banned in many places, so the application of gallium arsenide is still limited to high-speed power amplifiers. Indium phosphide is used to make light-emitting devices, such as LEDs.
In the third generation, better compound materials appeared, including silicon carbide, gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, and so on.
Silicon carbide in high voltage, high power, and other areas have special advantages; gallium nitride conversion frequency can be very high, so often used in high-frequency power amplifier devices; aluminum nitride used in special areas, civilian will be involved in less.
In addition, there are some semiconductors are quite special, do not know the classification of the first generation, the time they are through the second and third generation.
For example, cadmium antimonide, mercury antimonide, and so on. The use of these materials is very special, the process is also more complex, basically folk rarely use it, but they also belong to the scope of the semiconductor.
Third-generation semiconductor materials are often used in the 5G field, such as gallium nitride, which is used in high-frequency chips for 5G.
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MTr/mm^2 = Million Transistors per Square millimeter?
Is this not a VERY BIG DEAL? Has this not thwarted US attempts to keep China much behind so as to ensure that China does not have access or capability of highly advanced chip manufacturing?
Does this provide Huawei with the option of fully procuring advanced chips that it requires from domestic sources that the United States cannot prevent it from having?
Be prepared for American blockades, coups, and invasions of many of the less developed countries to prevent them from purchasing competitive good quality Chinese hi-tech products. Do not put that beyond Americans, especially if Republicans are in power.
Isn't it free money if they get delisted in the US? Just re-ipo back in asia for more money 
That is exactly why they should list in HK or Shanghai. By listing in HK and Shanghai, you are making yourself bigger, rather than making the hostile enemy bigger. China's companies ipo are among the world's largest anyway. Why would you list in hostile country and benefit their stock exchanges?
antiterror13
Brigadier
yes, quite common unit in CPU world
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
Air conditioners and refrigerators use to be considered luxuries of the West until China came along. Did the West make products for others to afford? No.
I disagree with your assessment.
Chinese elites now believe that the US is committed to keeping China technologically behind, so that US companies can continue to occupy the technology high ground. That is simple commercial logic that everyone understands.
And if China had gone for completely domestic solutions for global expansion, China wouldn't have grown as fast as it actually did.
It's not in China's interests to implement blanket bans against foreign technology, as this would threaten China's central role in the global electronics supply chain. That is a huge amount of leverage.
And in terms of timeframe, I give it 5-10 years before China has decent alternatives for almost every US technology import.
Previously, the Chinese market and Chinese R&D spending just wasn't big enough to do this, nor was there a compelling reason to.
The National Science Foundation reported to Congress that China likely spent more on R&D than the USA in 2019.