Strategic implications of Chinese/US AI development

Via Mr Unknown
The Deloitte predictions being referenced in this article can be found here:


Breaking Down China's Unstoppable AI Factory
Deloitte predicts Chinese semiconductor revenue will grow by 25 percent to hit $110 billion in 2019 as the country's AI giants begin mass-producing chips specialized for machine learning.
Rob Marvin

Deep learning is powering the next revolution in global computing, and the power balance in this critical emerging field underlying modern artificial intelligence skews disproportionately toward China.

The Why Axis BugWhile US tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are investing billions in AI research and development, Chinese tech companies have the added benefit of a goverment and an economy that work in tandem to create both supply and demand for a homegrown AI boom. According to Deloitte's 2019 Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions, China is poised for not only AI software innovation, but to leverage its massive computing hardware manufacturing sector to produce semiconductors purpose-built for AI tasks.

Deloitte forecasts that Chinese semiconductor revenue will grow by 25 percent from $85 billion in 2018 to hit $110 billion in 2019, driven by the homegrown manufacturing of more semiconductors built for the computing-intensive workloads of deep learning tasks.

China consumes more than 50 percent of all semiconductors produced each year, but up to this point Chinese manufacturers are only meeting about 30 percent of the country's own demand. The Chinese government and digital businesses aim to greatly ramp up homegrown manufacturing to meet the growing demand, according to Deloitte.

Somewhat old but relevant.

Klon said:

Interview with Lu Qi, then COO of Baidu, about AI and related topics. He discusses China's position in high-end AI research starting at around 25 minutes.

Click to expand...

Good news SMIC started production of 14 nm chip via Don Juan with the help of semi guru Liang Mong Song former chief of TSMC There is no way to contain China because China can draw vast talent from greater China and diaspora


39min ago in Before Going to Press

BITS + CHIPS
SMIC reportedly to move 14nm process to volume production in 1H19

Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES, Taipei Wednesday 30 January 2019

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) is expected to enter volume production of chips built using 14nm FinFET process technology in the first half of 2019, fulfilling the first orders coming from the handset sector, according to media reports in China.

SMIC has managed to improve its 14nm process manufacturing yield rate to 95%, the reports said. SMIC has made significant progress with its FinFET process development since Liang Mong-song, former R&D guru of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung Foundry, joined the Shanghai-based foundry.

Meanwhile, financial support from the government has been accelerating the development of SMIC's 14nm and more advanced process technologies since 2018, the reports indicated. SMIC has plans to roll out more advanced 10nm and 7nm FinFET processes.

Liang reiterated during SMIC's most-recent investors meeting the foundry's push for advanced technology development. SMIC has developed its 28nm HKC+ process platform, and is gearing up for risk production of chips using the company's first-generation FinFET node in the first half of 2019, according to Liang.

Hendrik_2000 said:

SMIC has managed to improve its 14nm process manufacturing yield rate to 95%, the reports said.

Click to expand...

Excellent. Yield of 95% at 14 nm! This is extremely important.

SMIC has made significant progress with its FinFET process development since Liang Mong-song, former R&D guru of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung Foundry, joined the Shanghai-based foundry.

Click to expand...

Did Liang's move to SMIC have anything to do with TSMC suing SMIC for "intellectual property violations" a few years ago?

One by one China is replacing the smart phone components from import via XYZ his comment
I hope they can get rid of Skyworks from Chinese smartphones with this

-----------------------------------------------------------

NSI and Etra Jointly Announce First Wafer-Level Heterogeneous System Integration of GaAs on Silicon RF FEM
David Finch,
3-4 minutes

NINGBO, CHINA — Today, Ningbo Semiconductor International Corporation (NSI), a specialty semiconductor foundry in Ningbo, China, and Etra Semiconductor (Suzhou) Co., Ltd (Etra), an RF front-end devices and system solution provider in Suzhou, China, jointly announce an industry’s first RF FEM(Front-End Module) of heterogeneous integrated GaAs plus SOI circuits on Silicon using NSI’s proprietary micro wafer-level system integration technology (uWLSI®). Etra has demonstrated its first of such RF FEM in a package size of 2.5X1.5X0.25mm3, the most compact RF front-end device in current industry. The first series of such products are slated to production at NSI’s N1 Fab in the first half of 2019, primarily targeting for further size-constrained RF front-end chipsets in 4G and 5G handsets.



uWLSI® technology is a leading-edge wafer fabrication platform which enables extraordinary compactness of Etra’s GaAs pHEMT powered RF FEM chipset products and significant enhancement of RF characteristics of interconnects among its core components.” Etra claimed. “It is the key technology that helps to further simplify the chipset design and fabrication mostly through wafer-level fabrication and system testing.”

uWLSI®, a trademark of NSI standing for micro wafer-level system integration, is a unique middle-end wafer fabrication technology developed by NSI particularly for enabling heterogeneous multi-die-on-wafer system integration and wafer-level system testing while eliminating need for bumping and flip-chip processes in typical system-in-package practices.

NSI has developed the uWLSI® technology platform to specifically address surging need for high density heterogeneous system integration of a variety of chipsets and microsystems through more wafer level fabrication process. uWLSI® technology would not only empower the next generation of high performance, ultra-compact RF front-end modules by facilitating heterogeneous wafer-level system integration of various core components, including GaAs or GaN PA devices, RF filters, IPD, switches, tuners, LNAs and controllers, but also serve as a new competitive microsystem integration solution for a broader spectrum of microsystem applications including MCU, IoT and sensor fusion.” claimed by NSI.

Ningbo Semiconductor International Corporation (NSI) is a specialty semiconductor company in analog and specialty semiconductors, co-invested by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and other IC funds in China. Headquartered with a specialty semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility in Ningbo, China, NSI provides specialty wafer foundry and product design services to global IC and system customers in HV analog, RF front-end and optoelectronic microsystems.

Hendrik_2000 said:

One by one China is replacing the smart phone components from import via XYZ his comment
I hope they can get rid of Skyworks from Chinese smartphones with this

-----------------------------------------------------------

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

NSI and Etra Jointly Announce First Wafer-Level Heterogeneous System Integration of GaAs on Silicon RF FEM
David Finch,
3-4 minutes

NINGBO, CHINA — Today, Ningbo Semiconductor International Corporation (NSI), a specialty semiconductor foundry in Ningbo, China, and Etra Semiconductor (Suzhou) Co., Ltd (Etra), an RF front-end devices and system solution provider in Suzhou, China, jointly announce an industry’s first RF FEM(Front-End Module) of heterogeneous integrated GaAs plus SOI circuits on Silicon using NSI’s proprietary micro wafer-level system integration technology (uWLSI®). Etra has demonstrated its first of such RF FEM in a package size of 2.5X1.5X0.25mm3, the most compact RF front-end device in current industry. The first series of such products are slated to production at NSI’s N1 Fab in the first half of 2019, primarily targeting for further size-constrained RF front-end chipsets in 4G and 5G handsets.

uWLSI® technology is a leading-edge wafer fabrication platform which enables extraordinary compactness of Etra’s GaAs pHEMT powered RF FEM chipset products and significant enhancement of RF characteristics of interconnects among its core components.” Etra claimed. “It is the key technology that helps to further simplify the chipset design and fabrication mostly through wafer-level fabrication and system testing.”

uWLSI®, a trademark of NSI standing for micro wafer-level system integration, is a unique middle-end wafer fabrication technology developed by NSI particularly for enabling heterogeneous multi-die-on-wafer system integration and wafer-level system testing while eliminating need for bumping and flip-chip processes in typical system-in-package practices.

NSI has developed the uWLSI® technology platform to specifically address surging need for high density heterogeneous system integration of a variety of chipsets and microsystems through more wafer level fabrication process. uWLSI® technology would not only empower the next generation of high performance, ultra-compact RF front-end modules by facilitating heterogeneous wafer-level system integration of various core components, including GaAs or GaN PA devices, RF filters, IPD, switches, tuners, LNAs and controllers, but also serve as a new competitive microsystem integration solution for a broader spectrum of microsystem applications including MCU, IoT and sensor fusion.” claimed by NSI.

Ningbo Semiconductor International Corporation (NSI) is a specialty semiconductor company in analog and specialty semiconductors, co-invested by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund and other IC funds in China. Headquartered with a specialty semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility in Ningbo, China, NSI provides specialty wafer foundry and product design services to global IC and system customers in HV analog, RF front-end and optoelectronic microsystems.

Click to expand...

This seems like a really expensive technology to manufacture. At least on a cursory glance. But it should provide higher levels of integration than anything else on the market AFAIK.

Unigroup starts mass production of 3D NAND backend lines
Shinee Wu, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES
Monday 14 January 2019
Via JSCh

Unimos Microelectronics, a re-invested memory backend service affiliate of China's Tsinghua Unigroup, has recently kicked off volume production at its 3D NAND memory chips packaging and testing lines, marking a great stride by the group toward building sound memory and storage ecosystems.

Unimos Microelectronics was renamed in July 2018 from ChipMos (Shanghai), originally a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan's ChipMos Technologies, after Unigroup acquired a 48% stake in the subsidiary in June 2017 to become the largest shareholder of the joint venture.

Unigroup sources said that Unimos has fared smoothly in shifting its operation focus to memory packaging and testing services. The company started construction of brand-new 3D NAND backend service lines in April 2018, completed installation of clean rooms in May, kicked off trial production in June, finished initial product verification in September, and passed product validations at clients in November.

Unigroup can now provide one-stop backend services for memory products, including 3D NAND (raw NAND, eMMC, UFS, eMCP, TF card), 2D NAND, NOR, DRAM, and SRAM.

The group's memory production arm Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC) has completed in-house development of 32-layer 3D NAND chips and is set to start mass production at its Wuhan production base in 2019, with construction of its memory plants in Nanjing and Chengdu also underway. In addition, the group has also kicked off construction of an SSD plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

Industry sources said China's market has shown ever-expanding demand for 3D NAND, with the penetration ratio for 3D NAND in enterprise-use SSD products shooting up to 77% in 2018 from 10% in 2015 and the corresponding ratio for consumer SSD surging to 60% from 3%. This has demonstrated the mainstream status of 3D NAND in application to either enterprise or consumer SSDs.

To meet the market demand, Unigroup inked in November 2018 a long-term strategic partnership with China's SSD maker Shenzhen Longsys Electronics and then teamed up in December with Taiwan-based NAND controller chip provider Phison Electronics, to deepen cooperation in memory chip supply chains, product designs and contract production to further expand the group's memory and storage ecosystems.

Nutrient said:

Excellent. Yield of 95% at 14 nm! This is extremely important.




Did Liang's move to SMIC have anything to do with TSMC suing SMIC for "intellectual property violations" a few years ago?

Click to expand...

Liang worked with Samsung in between TSMC and SMIC. I think Samsung was sued for hiring Liang, but to my knowledge, SMIC has not been sued by TSMC for the same matter.

The lawsuit between SMIC and TSMC was back about ten years ago, and I think TSMC ended up with 10-20% of SMIC equity in the settlement (I don't know what happened to that stake, either).

This report is long, but is a comprehensive overview of China's AI industry, based on the author's research and discussions with various sources.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Clues to Chinese Strategic Thinking on Artificial Intelligence and National Security

By

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Introduction
In the second half of 2018, I traveled to China on four separate trips to attend major diplomatic, military, and private-sector conferences focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI). During these trips, I participated in a series of meetings with high-ranking Chinese officials in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, leaders of China’s military AI research organizations, government think tank experts, and corporate executives at Chinese AI companies. From these discussions – as well as my ongoing work analyzing China’s AI industry, policies, reports, and programs – I have arrived at a number of key judgments about Chinese leadership’s views, strategies, and prospects for AI as it applies to China’s economy and national security. Of course, China’s leadership in this area is a large population with diversity in its views, and any effort to generalize is inherently presumptuous and essentially guaranteed to oversimplify. However, the distance is large between prevailing views in American commentary on China’s AI efforts and what I have come to believe are the facts. I hope by stating my takeaways directly, this report will advance the assessment of this issue and be of benefit to the wider U.S. policymaking community.

Chinese Views on the Importance of AI
...

Click to expand...

Intel and Qualcomm still the most dominant revenue earners for all US semi companies in China market. But they collaborate with local players.

Micron is the most evil one that needed to be punished.