News on China's scientific and technological development.

xywdx said:

There is no need to build a stair when there is already one available. The limitations of traditional Photolithography and steppers have already been identified, all that's left to do is to perfect the current process to reach the maximum potential. The west has already established a system to gradually increase the completion rate of the procedures, there is no need to waste resources doing the same thing.

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This is not true, it will still be the primary method of production for semiconductors for at least another two or three decades. Now Intel and the competitors will gradually shift to 3d architectures, but the bottom line is it still will be produced through photo-lithographic means.

It would be alright for a small country like South Korea or Canada to buy those machines from overseas, but for a major power like China, especially considering it to be a major competitor (possibly opponent leading to military actions) to the West, it is necessary to be able to produce everything domestically. For God's sake, even Holland and Japan can produce it. Why couldn't China do it? It's not a matter of lack of funds or will, it's just a matter of whether if the central government wants to get it done. If they do, it could be done in 3-5 years with billions of investments.

Personally, I believe this factor should be a top priority included in project 863 for the next 5-years-plan.

Hypothetically speaking (which is possible), something like the Tiananmen Square appears again, maybe in Xinjiang or Tibet, causing the US led western countries to launch another tech blockade on China, stopping all high-tech exports to Chinese mainland. This could be truly for humanitarian purposes or simply just want to halt China's growth. Either way, China's CPU will run out in a few years and would be at its knees to the West for these semiconductors.

Semiconductors are no longer a technological showpiece, but rather a vital factor in the function of day to day life. Modern civilizations could no longer live without it. It is now having strategic importance, just like fossil fuels and mineral supplies. If you don't have it, you will be miserable.

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China on Monday published a set of full coverage of moon map and moon images with a resolution of seven meters captured by the country's second moon orbiter, the Chang'e-2.

This is the first time in the world to obtain and publish the 100 percent coverage of moon images with the resolution of seven meters or better, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence said in a statement.

The satellite is now orbiting the second Lagrange Point (L2) more than 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth.

Wow, great pics of the moon Escobar! Now, I'm looking for Apollo 18 somewhere out there....lol, just kidding.

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China's average network speed ranks No. 90 in the world, according to the world's largest internet content delivery network, Akamai Technologies.

The global average network speed increased 39% in the fourth quarter of 2011, to 2.7mbps. South Korea has the fastest average speed, followed by Hong Kong and Japan.

In 2011, the average and top network speed in South Korea reached 16.7mbps and 46.8mbps, respectively, compared to the worldwide average of 2.7mbps and 11.7mbps. The average network speed in Hong Kong reached 10.5 mbps, up 14% from a year earlier, while the figure reached 8.9mbps in Japan, up 5.8% compared with 2010. China ranked No. 90 at 1.4mbps, but the growth of average connection speed was 43%.

China charges users network fees much higher than many countries with faster connections. Internet users in China typically pay US$13.13 per month for 1M broadband, four times what it would cost in the US, 29 times what it costs in South Korea, and 469 times more expensive than in Hong Kong, according to the Data Center of China Internet.

The global penetration rate of high-speed broadband (faster than 5mbps) was 29%, while the figure in South Korea reached 79% last year. Meanwhile, the global penetration rate of regular-speed broadband (faster than 2mbps) was 66%, and the global penetration rate of narrow-band (slower than 256kbps) was 2.5%, according to Akamai.

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The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) approved Thursday the second stage of a trial for the nation's fourth-generation (4G) technology -- TD-LTE.

During the trial's second phase, the focus will be testing system equipment based on 3GPP's R9 specification and multi-mode chipsets that support a comprehensive range of telecommunication and data communication standards, according to the MIIT.

China is the major promotor of the TD-LTE standard and is also a major owner of the standard's core patents. As China's largest wireless service provider, China Mobile has been pushing for TD-LTE, or "Time Division-Long Term Evolution," to become a globally accepted standard.

TD-LTE can substantially lower bandwidth costs and allow faster broadband wireless services than the current 3G network.

3GPP is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations with the initial scope to make a globally applicable 3G mobile phone system specification.

Huang Xiaoqing, who heads China Mobile's telecommunications research institute, said that during the trial period, more emphasis will be given to network quality and user experiences. Meanwhile, the TD-LTE network is expected to extend to nearly 20,000 base stations during the second stage.

Huang revealed that the government is expected to roll out some new policies during the second stage of the trial, however, he did not provide further details.

Development of TD-LTE technology, initiated and led by China, has become one of the three major 4G standards that also include the U.S.-led WiMAX and LTE FDD in Europe.

Huang said that TD-LTE has been widely recognized by telecommunication equipment makers and operators. So far, 33 TD-LTE trial networks have been built in North America, Europe, and Asia. Mobily, a leading mobile operator in Saudi Arabia and Japan's Softbank have even officially started commercial use of TD-LTE networks.

Zeng Xuezhong, senior vice president of ZTE, a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, said as of the end of November, the company has cooperated with 29 telecommunication operators in constructing TD-LTE networks around the world, among which seven companies have launched the commercial use of the network.

"The bandwidth cost of the TD-LTE is only one tenth of that with the LTE-FDD, which means an important opportunity to develop TD-LTE," Zeng said.

During the Consumer Electronics Show held at the beginning of this year in Las Vegas, major chipmakers, cell phone makers, and wireless service providers agreed on building a global industrial chain for TD-LTE in efforts to push forward the development of mobile Internet.

However, some device manufacturers and operators said that China still has not drawn a clear timetable for the commercialization of TD-LTE, which might cause TD-LTE to fall behind other 4G standards in being taken up.

CottageLV said:

It would be alright for a small country like South Korea or Canada

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Unless you are Russian, I dare say my country is bigger than yours.
In any case, I am not saying the technology is obsolete, there is just no need to keep up with the game at every single step, when you can obtain the end result with very little effort in comparison. What I mean is that it might take China 3-5 years to catch up now, but even if China don't do anything, 20 years later it would still take 3-5 years to catch up, and China has plenty of reserves to last 3-5 years no problem.

Yeah they're blowing smoke because no one I know in the US pays that less.

well, i'm in australia. Dun talk to me about the broadband speed and costs here in this developed nation, cuz i may have to strangle somebody. Twice.

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Chinese telecommunications maker Huawei has scored a second major contract in the New Zealand government's scheme to bring ultrafast broadband (UFB) to most of the country.

Enable Networks, owned by the council in New Zealand's second city of Christchurch, announced Wednesday that Huawei New Zealand would supply the fiber equipment for the city's UFB network, and for services to manage operations and maintenance.The "multi-million-dollar contract" covered the provision of all network equipment, including fiber ducting, fiber optic cables and open access layer two, or "bitstream," network solutions.

Huawei would also provide the service expertise for the 3,500- km UFB network across Christchurch and neighboring Waimakariri and Selwyn districts, said a statement from the two companies.

"Since we won the UFB contract last year, we've been busy locking in supplier relationships required to deliver on this enormous project. This key relationship is one of the most important," Enable Services general manager network John Humm said in the statement.

"The network equipment provided by Huawei is going to deliver services to our homes, schools and businesses for the next 50 years and more."

Humm said Huawei won the contract thanks to its track record in delivering fiber infrastructure, reputation for quality products, commitment to New Zealand, professionalism and delivery timeframes.

Huawei New Zealand chief executive officer Arthur Zhang said Huawei would play a significant role in New Zealand's second largest UFB coverage area.

"We are very committed to developing our business in New Zealand and playing a significant role in this very important fibre infrastructure project," Zhang said in the statement.

Huawei won a similar contract late last year to build the UFB network in the Hamilton-Central North Island region.

Huawei would supply the optical equipment, including micro tube ducting and optical fiber cables, as well as open access Ethernet network solutions.

The ultra-fast broadband (UFB) network for Christchurch and surrounding centers will pass 180,000 homes, schools and businesses, and is seen as essential for the city's reconstruction after a series of destructive earthquakes since September 2010.

The Enable Networks' deployment will connect a total population of more than 380,000, including about 7,000 businesses, 1,000 medical centres and 170 schools, according to the government.

A government analysis of the potential economic impact of the UFB project indicated it would generate 3,307 extra jobs in Christchurch by 2031.

The roll out, which began in November last year, will be completed over an eight-year period.

Overall the government's UFB initiative will see 75 percent of New Zealanders able to access speeds of 100Mbps or more before 2020 at a projected cost of 1.5 billion NZ dollars (1.25 billion U. S. dollars).

Lenovo Announces Q3 Financials, Posts Record Profit

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Lenovo continues to grow faster than overall PC industry

Lenovo has reported its Q3 2011/2012 financial data, and the numbers look good. The company recorded quarterly sales of $8.4 billion and pre-tax income of $192 million. This marks the 11th quarter in a row that Lenovo has grown faster than the PC industry as a whole.

Q3 is also the ninth quarter in a row that Lenovo has grown faster than the top four computer manufacturers. The company attributes this to balanced growth across all geographies and customer segments. Lenovo is traditionally big is home territory of China where much of the computer industry growth has been recorded. This quarter Lenovo landed its highest ever global market share at 14% of industry.

Lenovo's $192 million in pre-tax income represents a 59% increase year-over-year. The company also grew its gross profit for the third quarter 47% year-over-year and ended up with 11.4% gross profit margin. Overall sales for the quarter were $8.4 billion, a gain of 44% compared to last year. Lenovo also notes that its PC shipments grew 37%. Basic earnings per share for Q3 was $1.50 per share. Lenovo also noted that as of December 31, 2011, it had $3.9 billion in cash reserves. It certainly sounds like the company is very healthy.

"Despite the worldwide hard drive shortage in the past quarter, Lenovo continued to achieve strong growth with record results in market share and revenue, as well as record high in PTI (pre-tax income) of US$192 million. For the first time, Lenovo became the number one vendor globally in commercial PCs and in consumer desktop," said Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo Chairman and CEO. "We saw strong progress in our Mobile Internet business. During the quarter, Lenovo sold more than 6.5 million phones, and almost half were smartphones. Lenovo's smartphone market share in China reached double-digit market share in December. We also see strong momentum in our tablet business. All these successes demonstrate that Lenovo has built a strong foundation for the next steps beyond traditional PCs."

Lenovo holds 35.3% of the overall computer market inside of China. Sales inside China alone totaled $3.5 billion. Lenovo also posted impressive growth in other emerging markets as well as mature markets. Lenovo's laptop shipments globally totaled $4.5 billion, which is an increase of 30% compared to last year. Desktop shipments also increased 32% year-over-year globally. Lenovo isn't a big name in smartphones inside the United States; however, it sold $565 million worth of smartphones in China.