Opinionated - China Chipping Away to Semiconductor Dominance

[Bussard Ramjet]

You just should know that, More Chinese companies are investing huge money in IT industry, we are on the way, It is very obvious, compared with best one, there are a huge gap, but at least, we start and speed up, that's enough.

There are only two countries in the world: China and a foreign country(Including India).

No issues with this. But hyping up your own progress is a recipe for complacency, and disaster. You are way way behind and have a lot of catching up to do still.

Just look at what hyping did. If you hadn't created this whole environment of hyping stuff up, US and Europeans wouldn't have got concerned and blocked your acquisitions.

 

[sweetgrape]

No issues with this. But hyping up your own progress is a recipe for complacency, and disaster. You are way way behind and have a lot of catching up to do still.

Just look at what hyping did. If you hadn't created this whole environment of hyping stuff up, US and Europeans wouldn't have got concerned and blocked your acquisitions.

If Chinese really just know hyping stuff up, US and European will be really happy, don't know whether you can understand what I mean. for me it doesn't matter with hype them up lightly, not only Chinese do this, other too, maybe more.

Yes we are way behind the best of the world at some domains, we are on the way to catch up, Chinese are not Indian, we know who are we, even sometimes we talk tall.

 

[qwerrty]

And neither are succeeding. The last I checked the combined market share of these companies doesn't enter even double digits.

Also, in imaging, the number of pixels is the most hyped, and useless feature to talk about. Sensor and Pixel Size, sensitivity, ISO, are all more important.

why the stupid revenue comparison? they shouldn't make those, because they aren't making a lot of money like sony? company like gpixel making hypersensitive customized cmos the size of an iphone for small professional market, they can never make the same money as mass produced cmos chips for phones and cameras..

Just so that one knows here, 100G and 400G products are already in commercial production right now, and next generation is in development.

So Accelink is two generations late to the product. (Which also pretty much defines the whole existence of Accelink)

just so that one knows here, the article is talking about a 100G single optical chip engine at wafer level, not transceiver product. accelink and many other chinese already selling or developing 200G and 400G transceivers. you can make 400G transceiver by combining 4x100G optical chip engine with 4 lanes of 100Gb/s each or 200G in 8x25G configuration and so on..

 

[cirr]

China semiconductor fab capacity to reach 20% worldwide share in 2020, says SEMI

Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES, Taipei

Wednesday 5 September 2018

Front-end fab capacity in China will grow to account for 16% of the world's semiconductor fab capacity in 2018, according to SEMI. The share will increase to 20% by the end of 2020.

With the rapid growth, China will top the rest of the world in fab investment in 2020 with more than US$20 billion in spending, driven by memory and foundry projects funded by both multinational and domestic companies, SEMI indicated.

IC design remained the largest semiconductor sector in China for the second year in a row with US$31.9 billion in revenues in 2017, widening its lead over the long-dominant IC packaging and test sector, SEMI noted. The ascent of China's IC design sector comes as the region's equipment market is expected to claim the top spot in 2020 for the first time on the strength of the continuing development of its domestic manufacturing capability. China's maturing domestic fab sector is also benefiting domestic equipment and materials suppliers. Both groups continue to see gains in their product offerings and capabilities, particularly in silicon wafer production, SEMI continued.

The more than CNY140 billion (US$21.5 billion) accumulated by China's National IC Fund, a critical component of the 2014 National Guideline to address China's semiconductor trade deficit, has spurred rapid gains throughout the region's IC supply chain, SEMI said. Semiconductors are China's largest import by revenue. Phase 2 of funding aims to raise another CNY150-200 billion, according to SEMI.

Encouraged by the National Guideline and favorable policies, skilled overseas talent is returning to China, triggering an explosion of domestic IC design start-ups that are benefiting from access to investment and favorable policies, SEMI observed.

In addition, SEMI noted there are 25 new fab construction projects underway or planned in China. Foundry, DRAM and 3D NAND are the leading segments for fab investment and new capacity in China.

China's IC packaging and test industry is also moving up the value chain by enhancing its technology offerings through mergers and acquisitions and building advanced capabilities to entice international IDMs, SEMI said. Meanwhile, China's IC materials market is expected to grow at a 10% CAGR from 2015 to 2019, driven primarily by the region's new fab capacity ramp in the coming years, SEMI indicated.

https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180905PR200.html

Time to buy 100% indigenous Gloway SSD products(and kiss goodbye to Micron, Samsung etc.)

https://item.jd.com/29567983804.html

 

[cirr]

IC sector spends more on R&D

2018-09-14 14:30:58 China Daily Editor : Gu Liping

An employee of South Korea-based Hynix works at an integrated circuit assembly line. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Industry still in need of efforts to boost innovation, attract talents, say experts

While the Chinese integrated circuit industry has formed a relatively complete technology system over the past decade, more efforts should be made to improve the ability of Chinese companies to innovate and attract talent, industry experts said at a conference on Thursday.

Ye Tianchun, director of the Institute of Microelectronics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at the 21st China IC Manufacturing Annual Conference in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province that the Chinese IC industry has seen its ecosystem completed and competitiveness enhanced over the past 10 years.

Up till now, a total of 103 key materials and 20 key pieces of equipment for chip production and 17 for advanced encapsulation have past verification by large assembly lines and sold in both domestic and overseas markets, he said.

Meanwhile, industry practitioners have largely improved their manufacturing and research capabilities over the past few years. By the end of this year, Chinese IC industry specialists will complete the research and development of the 28-14 nanometer IC production technique and a major breakthrough will be seen in the R&D of the 7.5 nm IC.

"The Chinese IC manufacturers started by introducing technologies from other parts of the world. With a fundamental understanding of IC production, they started to innovate. Over time, we have seen Chinese companies spend more on R&D to create their own products and technology. More importantly, they are also seeking overseas cooperation," Ye said.

Chen Nanxiang, executive vice-chairman of China Resources Microelectronics Ltd, said that the company will focus on the R&D of key products and IC modules. Meanwhile, they will seek cooperation with other companies, consider mergers and acquisitions and start equity investment when appropriate.

But as Chen explained, the shortage of talent is a problem that Chinese IC industry should grapple with in the first place.

"The average sales revenue per capita should be increased so that companies can come up with attractive packages to retain the right talents. The success of the many mushrooming Chinese IC companies lately shows they are largely dependent on talents," he said.

Zhou Zixue, chairman of China Semiconductor Industry Association, also agreed that the shortage of talent is the most urgent challenge needing to be addressed. Statistics provided by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that a total of 720,000 candidates will be in need by the Chinese IC industry by 2020, but the shortage will reach 320,000.

"The problem is that finance is still the most preferred job opportunity among qualified candidates, followed by the internet and manufacturing. The IC industry only comes fourth or fifth on their priority list," he said.

"Some Chinese companies have already come up with the latest technologies. But what we need is the development of the entire industry, which requires both financing and talent," he added.

According to the China Semiconductor Industry Association, the total market value of the Chinese IC industry rose 20.2 percent year-on-year to 543 billion yuan ($79 billion). The number will exceed 648 billion yuan by the end of this year, with an annual growth rate of 19.5 percent.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2018-09-14/detail-ifyxxzwt9219983.shtml

 

[ZeEa5KPul]

"The problem is that finance is still the most preferred job opportunity among qualified candidates, followed by the internet and manufacturing. The IC industry only comes fourth or fifth on their priority list," he said.

This is a very dangerous virus that needs to be destroyed immediately. Just as much as the government needs to support the growth of the semiconductor industry, it needs to inhibit the expansion of the financial "industry" that parasitizes the productive economy. A certain level of financial market activity is necessary, but beyond a very modest limit all you get are speculative bubbles and manias that always end in grief. The last thing China needs is its own Wall Street.

I think a heavy payroll tax should be put on financial firms to shift the preferences of both employers to hire and employees to work in such firms.

 

[JSCh]

ALIBABA LAYS OUT R&D ROADMAP FOR FRONTIER TECHNOLOGIES
CHRISTINE CHOU | SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Alibaba Chief Technology Officer Jeff Zhang on Wednesday laid out an ambitious roadmap for research and development in several areas of emerging computing technology.

Speaking at the group’s Cloud Computing Conference 2018 in Hangzhou, he said that over the next three to five years, Alibaba DAMO Academy will focus its efforts on developing quantum processors. In the meantime, it will keep driving quantum development ahead, including building cloud-accessed, quantum-classical heterogenous systems for delivering quantum computing power as a utility and searching for super-fast quantum-classical hybrid algorithms to solve fundamental problems in machine learning, optimization and physics simulations.

“We have to leverage Alibaba’s advantage, not only to develop chips, but also the system and environments to test and apply it, using Alibaba’s platforms, artificial intelligence and computing power, to develop [quantum technologies] to their full potential,” said Zhang.

At the same time, DAMO will nurture and expand its partnership network to explore quantum-enhanced solutions for industries ranging from e-commerce, logistics, finance, materials and pharmaceuticals. Based on technologies developed, commercial products will gradually be introduced, bringing value to Alibaba customers.

DAMO, which was established last year, now has over 300 researchers in eight cities around the world. Its focus has been on machine intelligence, robotics, fintech, data computing and quantum computing, developing a simulator that mimics quantum circuits.

The academy expects to introduce its first artificial intelligence inference chip, called “AliNPU” mid-next year. The chip could potentially be used for autonomous vehicles, smart cities and smart logistics.

“We want to strengthen our data-processing capabilities. By the end of the year, we’ll be able to see Alibaba’s first neural network chip,” said Zhang, referring to AliNPU. “In our current tests, it is able to increase our image processing capabilities by fourfold.”

And DAMO, with an eye toward providing computational power for the group’s data centers and advancing its Internet of Things businesses, ranging from smart homes to smart logistics, is conducting more R&D in AI training chips and specialized AI chips.

Also during the conference’s busy first day, Alibaba said it was establishing a chip company, a subsidiary under the Alibaba Group that will focus on customized AI chips and embedded processors to further support Alibaba’s growing cloud and Internet of Things businesses, as well as to provide intelligent solutions for different industries.

And Alibaba announced a global, university-level math competition, aiming to discover and nurture the next generation of math geniuses and raise awareness of a field that underpins numerous fundamental sciences.

Mathematicians, including Yurii Nesterov of Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, Frank Kelly at the University of Cambridge, Gang Tian of Peking University, Jianshu Li at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Yitang Zhang at the University of California, Santa Barbara will mentor select students from the competition. In addition, the Academy offered nine excellent young science researchers a “2018 DAMO Academy Young Fellow” award during the conference.


Alibaba Lays Out R&D Roadmap for Frontier Technologies | Alizila.com

 

[cirr]

Alibaba to set up dedicated chip subsidiary

By He Wei in Hangzhou | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-09-19

A pedestrian walks past Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. [Photo/VCG]

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced on Wednesday it will establish a dedicated chip subsidiary that aims to create customized artificial intelligence chips and embedded processors to further support the tech giant's sprawling cloud and internet of things businesses.

The company plans to launch its first indigenous AI interference chip - 'AliNPU' - in the second half of 2019, Chief Technology Officer Zhang Jianfeng said at Alibaba's annual cloud computing conference in Hangzhou.

Zhang said the firm has embarked on developing its own quantum processors, and is looking to roll out a genuine quantum chip in two to three years.

"We are confident that our advantages in algorithm, data intelligence, computing power and domain knowledge on the back of Alibaba's diverse ecosystem will put us in a unique position to lead real technology breakthroughs in disruptive areas, such as quantum and chip technology," he said at the conference.

The newly-formed entity is the merger of the chip team from DAMO Academy, Alibaba's in-house technology and science research arm, and microchip maker C-SKY Microsystems Co Ltd, which it acquired in April.

The new company, which is likely to boast 200 to 300 researchers, aims to operate independently in the long run and becomes self-sufficient following initial financial input from Alibaba.

阿里成立平头哥半导体公司，称两三年内要打造真正量子芯片

2018-09-19 15:08:57字号：A- A A+来源：观察者网

9月19日云栖大会上，阿里巴巴CTO、达摩院院长张建锋宣布，阿里巴巴将成立“平头哥半导体有限公司”，从事芯片的自研开发与战略布局。达摩院将以新成立的“平头哥半导体有限公司”为核心，构建以AliNPU智能芯片和嵌入式芯片为核心的芯片战略。

阿里巴巴CTO、达摩院院长张建锋

张建锋称，明年年中将产出各类指标均是全球最领先的阿里巴巴第一款神经网络芯片，并在两三年内打造一款真正的量子芯片出来。张建锋表示，达摩院研发的CK902系列嵌入式芯片，将是中国第一款带安全功能的、完全自主研发的芯片。

他解释到，阿里巴巴相信小的力量，而“平头哥”也是非洲草原上的蜜獾的别称，阿里希望能学习它的精神，坚信梦想，坚持创业的精神。

“其实达摩院非常简单，就回答两个问题：这么多数据到底从哪里来的，我们是怎么处理的。”张建锋说，达摩院研究的是怎样把黑盒子打开，真正解决所有人工智能面临的根本性问题。

张建锋表示，AI（人工智能）最核心的问题有三个：算法、数据和计算力。达摩院今天会更关注于底层算法算力和大数据处理，构建一个数字化的生态。（文/庄怡）

 

[TaiShang]

Alibaba announces establishment of chip company

China Plus Published: 2018-09-19 19:48:31


China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has established a semiconductor company to produce quantum chip.

Alibaba's CTO Zhang Jianfeng, who also heads the Damo Academy, made the announcement at the on-going 2018 Computing Conference on Wednesday.

CTO Zhang Jianfeng announces at the on-going 2018 Computing Conference that Alibaba has established a semiconductor company to produce quantum chip. [Photo: ynet.com]

The company consists of C-Sky Microsystems which was taken over by Alibaba earlier this year and the chip team of Damo Academy. It will focus on embedded the neural network processing unit and embedded chip.

The company is expected to produce world leading neural NPC by mid-2019 and totally self-developed quantum chip in two to three years, said Zhang.

This year's Computing Conference gathers thousands of scholars, experts CEOs and CTOs in the cutting-edge industry.

 

[JSCh]

Alibaba sets up semiconductor company to develop proprietary AI chipset
By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2018/9/19 19:02:46

Visitors browse homegrown chips at an industry show in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian Province in April. Photo: VCG

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding unveiled on Wednesday its ambitious plans to develop a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) chipset, and it said it will establish a semiconductor company to meet this goal.

The chip company is to be called Pingtouge, a name chosen by Jack Ma Yun, founder of Alibaba. The name is also the nickname of honey badger, a fearless animal that dares to challenge other, larger creatures.

The Hangzhou-based company will produce its first neural network chip in the second half of next year with an internally developed technology platform and a synergized ecosystem, Zhang Jianfeng, head of Alibaba's DAMO Academy, said in a statement sent to the Global Times. The move will boost China's domestic semiconductor industry, he said.

The US ban on Chinese telecom giant ZTE became a wake-up call for China's semiconductor industry, which depends heavily on imported chipsets, analysts said.

The company did not mention where the chipset will be produced and how much the investment is.

Alibaba has been increasing its footprint in the chip industry. DAMO Academy, which was established in 2017, focuses on areas such as machine intelligence and data computing.

In April, the company acquired Chinese chipmaker Hangzhou C-SKY Microsystems - a designer of a domestically developed embedded chipset - to enhance its own chip production capacity.

For leading internet companies, getting access to data is no longer a question - the major bottleneck is how efficiently they can process the data, Han Xiaomin, general manager of CCID Consulting's integrated circuit business, told the Global Times.

"This explains why so many companies have established their own data-processing centers and started working on proprietary chipsets," he said.

Alibaba is late to the game when compared with other global internet giants such as Google and Amazon, the analyst noted. "However, considering its huge investment in this sector, the Chinese technology company is expected to catch up with its rivals in the short term," he said.

"Alibaba is developing a chipset not for competition but to bring benefits for all," Ma was quoted as saying in the statement.

Pingtouge will focus on customized AI chips and embedded processors to support Alibaba's growing cloud and Internet of Things businesses. Those chipsets could be used in various industries such as vehicles, home appliances and manufacturing.

Despite Alibaba's efforts, "China has a long way to go to achieve self-sufficiency in this sector," Han said.

"It's not about one particular industry. It's a systemic issue because the country lags in areas ranging from fundamental disciplines to core technologies to applications," he added.

However, Alibaba, as a major Chinese internet company, has plenty of money to invest in core technologies and scope to apply them in different scenarios, which will help China's overall semiconductor industry, Han noted.

 

[cirr]

ASML optimistic about litho equipment demand in China

Wu Yexing, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES

Tuesday 18 September 2018

Lithography tool vendor ASML is optimistic about increases in demand from China's chipmaking industry, and believes it will land orders for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) litho equipment from China customers looking to make advanced 7nm chips, according to Shen Po, president of ASML China.

The optimism comes despite the fact that United Microelectronics (UMC) has devoted more to mature processes, and Globalfoundries has put on hold its 7nm development.

Shen dismissed speculations that ASML has been prohibited from shipping litho equipment to China in accordance with the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Good and Technologies. Shen said the firm has been selling litho equipment in the China market. He revealed that ASML's most advanced immersion litho machine NEXT:2000i will be available in China soon.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) has ordered one set of EUV litho machine in 2018, slated for delivery in early 2019 to support its 7nm process development, according to industry sources.

Yangtze Memory Technology and Hua Hong Semiconductor have also ordered ASML 193nm immersion DUV (deep ultraviolet) litho machines to support storage chip fabrication and wafer foundry, respectively, the sources said.

China is emerging as a major export outlet for ASML litho machines, contributing 20% of revenues to the company, with the ratio higher than that contributed by the Taiwan market and similar to that of the US market, according to the company's financial reports for the first and second quarters of 2018.

Shen noted that ASML is moving at full throttles to turn out 20 EUV machines in 2018, which will be increased to 30 units in 2019 and 40 in 2020 to meet increasing demand for such machines in China and other markets.

Having developed a solid presence in the China market following 18 years of efforts, ASML will continue to introduce lithography technology into China and build a sound customer service network in the country. It has set up a training center in Shanghai, China in cooperation with an IC research and development center there to help foster litho talent, according to Shen.

https://digitimes.com/news/a20180918PD210.html

@Bussard Ramjet 14nm volume production in H1 2019, 7nm in 2021 and 3nm in 2023. India?

 

[Beast]

ASML optimistic about litho equipment demand in China

Wu Yexing, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES

Tuesday 18 September 2018

Lithography tool vendor ASML is optimistic about increases in demand from China's chipmaking industry, and believes it will land orders for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) litho equipment from China customers looking to make advanced 7nm chips, according to Shen Po, president of ASML China.

The optimism comes despite the fact that United Microelectronics (UMC) has devoted more to mature processes, and Globalfoundries has put on hold its 7nm development.

Shen dismissed speculations that ASML has been prohibited from shipping litho equipment to China in accordance with the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Good and Technologies. Shen said the firm has been selling litho equipment in the China market. He revealed that ASML's most advanced immersion litho machine NEXT:2000i will be available in China soon.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) has ordered one set of EUV litho machine in 2018, slated for delivery in early 2019 to support its 7nm process development, according to industry sources.

Yangtze Memory Technology and Hua Hong Semiconductor have also ordered ASML 193nm immersion DUV (deep ultraviolet) litho machines to support storage chip fabrication and wafer foundry, respectively, the sources said.

China is emerging as a major export outlet for ASML litho machines, contributing 20% of revenues to the company, with the ratio higher than that contributed by the Taiwan market and similar to that of the US market, according to the company's financial reports for the first and second quarters of 2018.

Shen noted that ASML is moving at full throttles to turn out 20 EUV machines in 2018, which will be increased to 30 units in 2019 and 40 in 2020 to meet increasing demand for such machines in China and other markets.

Having developed a solid presence in the China market following 18 years of efforts, ASML will continue to introduce lithography technology into China and build a sound customer service network in the country. It has set up a training center in Shanghai, China in cooperation with an IC research and development center there to help foster litho talent, according to Shen.

https://digitimes.com/news/a20180918PD210.html

@Bussard Ramjet 14nm volume production in H1 2019, 7nm in 2021 and 3nm in 2023. India?

They will brag, they can make 1nm out of thin air from their big mouth in 2020...

 

[qwerrty]

Bitmain CEO Announces New 7nm Bitcoin Mining Chip - CoinDesk
NEWS Daniel Palmer Sep 21, 2018 at 15:00 UTC | Updated Sep 21, 2018 at 15:28 UTC
https://www.coindesk.com/bitmain-ceo-announces-new-7nm-bitcoin-mining-chip/

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

kendryte ai chip accelerator using 64-bit risc-v isa

嘉楠科技勘智Kendryte芯片发布：人工智能新引擎
http://finance.jrj.com.cn/tech/2018/09/07154125062777.shtml

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

NextVPU unveiled AI vision processing IC N171

Major features of N171:

• Supports Operating Systems run on embedded CPU cores
• Highly integrated SoC with many cutting-edge IPs
• Computer Vision Specific ISP
• Supports up to 120 frame-per-second high resolution depth map generation, highest 3D point cloud generation capability in the world which can be compared with the sum of hundreds of 64-line Velodyne LiDARs, crucial for VSLAM, 3D reconstruction, high precision map generation, etc
• Multi-Tera-operations-per-watt CNN inference capability, providing strong NN computing power to the edge
• Processing up to 8-camera input streams simultaneously, providing extensive sensing capability to robots, UAV, UGVs
• Rich I/O interfaces
• Low power consumption

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


westwell ai chip for self-driving trucks and..

特立独行的西井科技：发布全球首款电动无人驾驶重卡 Q-Truck 背后的逻辑
https://www.leiphone.com/news/201809/Ese6Nl0q2zVxKrx0.html

 

[Götterdämmerung]

This is a very dangerous virus that needs to be destroyed immediately. Just as much as the government needs to support the growth of the semiconductor industry, it needs to inhibit the expansion of the financial "industry" that parasitizes the productive economy. A certain level of financial market activity is necessary, but beyond a very modest limit all you get are speculative bubbles and manias that always end in grief. The last thing China needs is its own Wall Street.

I think a heavy payroll tax should be put on financial firms to shift the preferences of both employers to hire and employees to work in such firms.

Financial and banking experts are important. BUT China should employ them to destroy Wall Street and the City of London, not to make them stronger! For this you need cunning experts in this sector.

 

[JSCh]

Foxconn Partners Jinan Authorities to Set Up USD546 Million Chip Fund
CHEN JUAN
DATE: MON, 10/08/2018 - 12:24

Foxconn Partners Jinan Authorities to Set Up USD546 Million Chip Fund​

(Yicai Global) Oct. 8 -- Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s biggest contract electronics maker, has agreed to set up a CNY3.75 billion (USD546 million) investment fund with the municipal government of Jinan in order to bolster its development in the semiconductor sector.

Most of the money will go toward Foxconn’s main chip project after the Taiwanese firm brings in one major semiconductor maker and five integrated circuit designers to Jinan, local news outlet Qilu Evening News reported on Sept. 28. It did not disclose how much each party will contribute to the fund.

Foxconn has been gradually extending into the chip sector. In August it penned a deal with the municipal government in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, to cooperate in semiconductor design services, and its affiliate Sharp has already begun making analog integrated circuits at its plant in Fukuyama, Japan.

The Jinan government hopes the deal will attract other semiconductor makers to the city and invest there, forming an industrial agglomeration and facilitating local development of the sector, the report added.