SMIC confirmed that they received the notice on the export limitation.
News on China's scientific and technological development.
- Thread starter Quickie
- Start date
Hi siegecrossbow,
So its official,
now SMIC can work with Huawei, the greatest early Christmas gift Santa Trump had ever given.
Hi siegecrossbow,
So its official,
Not necessarily. I think that SMIC is willing to acquire U.S. tech when possible so they are not going to burn that bridge, especially when the result of the election is very much in doubt. The attitude in China right now is pretty much "wait it out" (Huawei included) while developing domestic supply lines.
Hi siegecrossbow,
Good day, good assessment, but may I say my piece, the purpose of this limited sanction on SMIC is to cut them off from doing business with a major foreign customer (ex qualcomm) making its operation financially untenable and to halt its development of 7nm tech, in other word to bankrupt them. The US mission is to kill both SMIC and Huawei, it has bipartisan support so whoever will win the policy will remain.
The attitude in China right now is pretty much "wait it out" (Huawei included) while developing domestic supply lines.
Hope the recent SMIC IPO fund raising campaign will use that money to buy domestic equipment, last time I heard they ordered a lot from US supplier for their expansion plan, now with this limited sanction they should demand a refund and seek reparation.
SMIC has other possible customers than Huawei. They would rather retain Huawei, that's for sure, but I think Huawei would be better off with their own fabrication facilities. They have enough volume to justify it. We should also see a new fab corporation which uses 100% Chinese tools and materials in the near future which cannot be sanctioned to prevent moves like this. SMIC could start this once the 28nm SMEE tools come out and mask material production, etc, ramps up. They could develop a variant of their 28nm process for this toolchain and then spin-off that part of the corporation to prevent sanctions impact.
What I do think the Chinese will have to do eventually is to pool together their process engineering similar to what Samsung, IBM, and GlobalFoundries used to do. This would enable the DRAM and Flash vendors to more rapidly attain critical technologies (even though their process will still be different to logic). Other companies should be able to license at least some of SMIC's process technology so the industry can ramp up faster.
What I do think the Chinese will have to do eventually is to pool together their process engineering similar to what Samsung, IBM, and GlobalFoundries used to do. This would enable the DRAM and Flash vendors to more rapidly attain critical technologies (even though their process will still be different to logic). Other companies should be able to license at least some of SMIC's process technology so the industry can ramp up faster.
Hi gelgoog,
Lets do the math, TSMC account 18% of its revenue from Huawei, as of now TSMC is 10 times bigger than SMIC. So definitely SMIC alone will not be able to supply all the chips Huawei needs, so Huawei need their own fabrication facilities, but look it at as a business opportunity for SMIC, you just landed a huge customer in a silver platter, this one customer alone will gobble up all your production and need more. So what will you do, you expand , grow your business and invest in R&D. This scenario happen when TSMC partner up with Huawei, It help TSMC solidify its present number one FAB position in the world. Now its a fortuitous time for SMIC to repeat that cycle and stay in the race with TSMC.
Lets do the math, TSMC account 18% of its revenue from Huawei, as of now TSMC is 10 times bigger than SMIC. So definitely SMIC alone will not be able to supply all the chips Huawei needs, so Huawei need their own fabrication facilities, but look it at as a business opportunity for SMIC, you just landed a huge customer in a silver platter, this one customer alone will gobble up all your production and need more. So what will you do, you expand , grow your business and invest in R&D. This scenario happen when TSMC partner up with Huawei, It help TSMC solidify its present number one FAB position in the world. Now its a fortuitous time for SMIC to repeat that cycle and stay in the race with TSMC.
Has to be made in China. Basically, this is so lesson to everyone. they have to buy made in China. No more taking the easy route.
There is a reason why China bought them in first place.
If that is so easy to replace then China would installed required production capacity long time ago.
It is not easy to scale up production, the biggest drop back is to train the engineers/technicians / workers.
The ex-IBM workers in Hungary could tell long stories about the issues to gather the required knowledge, even with supportive international corporate structure, with organised knowledge transfer. China lack both of them.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Anybody posted this SCMP article on Chinese company bought used Hynix Lithograph machine for 10 million to design high end photo resists chemical
A Chinese chemical supplier for the microelectronics industry has said it has bought a used lithography system from South Korea as part of a project to speed up development of high-end photoresist materials for advanced semiconductor production amid an ongoing national drive for self-sufficiency in the sector.
Suzhou Crystal Clear Chemical, based in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Shanghai, said in a stock filing on Tuesday that it paid US$11.02 million to buy the Dutch-made machine from South Korea’s SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker.
In a separate filing, the company said it would raise 550 million yuan (US$80.7 million) in convertible bonds to fund a photoresist material project aimed at reducing China’s reliance on foreign supplies amid a “complicated geopolitical environment”.
The Shenzhen-listed company, which counts Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), ChangXin Memory Technologies and Hua Hong Semiconductor as its local customers, produces ultra-pure materials used in the microelectronics industry.
“The purchase could help in developing high-end photoresist materials,” Suzhou Crystal Clear Chemical said in the filing, adding that it was important for China to be self-reliant in the critical semiconductor materials currently monopolised by firms from the US, Japan and Europe.
Photoresist is a light-sensitive material used in conjunction with laser-based lithography systems to etch circuit patterns on silicon wafers.
China currently produces only 5 per cent of the photoresists it uses in KrF ultraviolet lasers for 8-inch silicon wafers, and relies entirely on imports for more advanced ArF photoresists for 12-inch wafer production, according to the company.
Suzhou Crystal Clear Chemical did not reveal details of the lithography machine it bought from Korea, other than it was originally manufactured by Dutch company ASML, the global leader in lithography. New ASML machines for ArF lithography cost more than US$50 million.
The news comes a time when China is reinvigorating efforts to develop a self-sufficient semiconductor industry after a protracted trade war morphed into a full blown tech war, with Chinese tech companies facing increasing scrutiny and restrictions from the US government.
In the latest example, Shanghai-based SMIC is facing restrictions on its access to US technology over US concerns that its products could be diverted to the Chinese military.
A Chinese chemical supplier for the microelectronics industry has said it has bought a used lithography system from South Korea as part of a project to speed up development of high-end photoresist materials for advanced semiconductor production amid an ongoing national drive for self-sufficiency in the sector.
Suzhou Crystal Clear Chemical, based in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Shanghai, said in a stock filing on Tuesday that it paid US$11.02 million to buy the Dutch-made machine from South Korea’s SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker.
In a separate filing, the company said it would raise 550 million yuan (US$80.7 million) in convertible bonds to fund a photoresist material project aimed at reducing China’s reliance on foreign supplies amid a “complicated geopolitical environment”.
The Shenzhen-listed company, which counts Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), ChangXin Memory Technologies and Hua Hong Semiconductor as its local customers, produces ultra-pure materials used in the microelectronics industry.
“The purchase could help in developing high-end photoresist materials,” Suzhou Crystal Clear Chemical said in the filing, adding that it was important for China to be self-reliant in the critical semiconductor materials currently monopolised by firms from the US, Japan and Europe.
Photoresist is a light-sensitive material used in conjunction with laser-based lithography systems to etch circuit patterns on silicon wafers.
China currently produces only 5 per cent of the photoresists it uses in KrF ultraviolet lasers for 8-inch silicon wafers, and relies entirely on imports for more advanced ArF photoresists for 12-inch wafer production, according to the company.
Suzhou Crystal Clear Chemical did not reveal details of the lithography machine it bought from Korea, other than it was originally manufactured by Dutch company ASML, the global leader in lithography. New ASML machines for ArF lithography cost more than US$50 million.
The news comes a time when China is reinvigorating efforts to develop a self-sufficient semiconductor industry after a protracted trade war morphed into a full blown tech war, with Chinese tech companies facing increasing scrutiny and restrictions from the US government.
In the latest example, Shanghai-based SMIC is facing restrictions on its access to US technology over US concerns that its products could be diverted to the Chinese military.