Skywatcher
Captain
I have heard about this but i am still unsure what exactly this N1 and N2 is. Is this a proper 7nm/8nm Chip or just an improved 14nm Chip. What are your thoughts Skywatcher?
If this N1 and N2 is a proper 7nm/8nm Chip made with the 7nm/8nm process, then it is very likely the 7nm Localised Production Line will be ready late 2020.
If N1 and N2 is just a improved 14nm Chip with performance close to a 7nm/8nm Chip, then the 14nm Localised Production Line will be ready next year.
We will just have to wait till next year to find out.
In any case, for general semiconductor machinery, i think equipment for 7nm is probably just a improvement over the ones that are used for 14nm. It shouldnt take too long for 7nm equipment to come out. Unless of course a completely new type of machine or process is needed.
Here's some info:
Now, with funding from the government, SMIC is developing 12nm finFETs and what it calls “N+1.” 12nm is a scaled down version of 14nm. Slated by year’s end, N+1 is billed as a 7nm technology.
N+1 isn’t quite what it seems. “SMIC’s N+1 is to Samsung’s 8nm, which is slightly better than TSMC’s 10nm,” said Samuel Wang, an analyst at Gartner. “SMIC’s N+1 is unlikely for this year. 12nm may become production ready by the end of 2020.”
China’s state-backed SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) has set an ambitious target of Q4-2020 for its 7 nanometer-class N+1 foundry node to go live, achieving “small scale production,” according to a cnTechPost report. The company has a lot of weight on its shoulders as geopolitical hostility between the U.S. and China threatens to derail the country’s plans to dominate 5G technology markets around the world. The SMIC N+1 node is designed to improve performance by 20%, reduce chip power consumption by 57%, reduce logic area by 63%, and reduce SoC area by 55%, in comparison to the SMIC’s 14 nm FinFET node, Chinese press reports citing a statement from SMIC’s co-CEO Dr. Liang Mengsong.
Granted, N+1 could start small scale production in 2020 Q4 and not really be available for 2020 in any meaningful marketwide sense.