Opinionated - China Chipping Away to Semiconductor Dominance

[Paul2]

Most likely using DUV double exposure to create 7nm. Will increase the cost and reduce efficiency but China has no choice until Euv is completed.

7nm with ArF requires quadruple patterning

 

[j20blackdragon]

Nikkei, together with Tokyo teardown specialist Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, took apart Huawei’s flagship model, the Mate 30,

At a glance, parts made in China now form 42 per cent of the total value of components, up from about 25 per cent when Huawei was still able to buy from US companies. American-made parts now represent only 1 per cent of the total components value in the phone, down sharply from about 11 per cent.

Huawei has overcome the obstacles in designing chips that can handle the reception and transmission of radio waves in 5G smartphones, which makes high-speed communication possible.

https://www.ft.com/content/449f6962-a705-437e-8679-f6a7057594c4

 

[JSCh]

Chinese firm Longsys launches SSD with Yangtze Memory flash - cnTechPost
2020-06-03 20:20:04 GMT+8 | cnTechPost

In mid-May, Longsys embedded storage brand FORESEE introduced a China-made storage module, and now FORESEE is introducing the G500 series of SSDs.

From the flash chip, main control chip, and Firmware, the SSD has parts developed and manufactured all by Chinese companies.

The G500 series covers the mainstream 2.5 inch and M.2 models on the market, with sequential read speeds of up to 560 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 500 MB/s.

Firmware in the G500 series is done by the Longsys team, with deep underlying optimizations for master and chip.

The FORESEE domestic SSD features a custom domestic high-performance master chip from Longsys, and the flash memory is Yangtze Memory's 64-layer 3D NAND.

 

[zestokryl]

UniIC Delivers China's First 100% Homebrew DDR4 Memory Modules

Xi'an UniIC Semiconductors, which goes by the trade name UniIC (probably pronounced "unique"), has delivered the first DDR4 memory module made 100% in China (which includes all its DRAM chips, PCB, drivers, and other components). The module may be nothing much to look at, with just a bare green PCB and DRAM chips, lacking in any heatspreaders; but this product can be considered a baby step toward a large and diverse product lineup. The debutante memory modules are unbuffered DDR4-2400 and DDR4-2667 memory modules that come in 8 GB densities.

The DDR4-2400 module is timed at CL17 17-17-39, and the DDR4-2667 at CL18, with both pulling 1.2 V - again nothing to write home about, but given the breakneck speeds at which Chinese companies flush with state investment are developing and diversifying their PC hardware lines, UniIC's product portfolio could look very different in the coming two years. UniIC is a cog in China's 3-5-2 policy of localizing PC hardware manufacturing, and eliminating dependence of foreign hardware.

 

[j20blackdragon]

Notably, SMIC is also developing 14 nm chips for Canaan, as part of their recent partnership.
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post...-miner-maker-canaan-files-for-2-8-billion-ipo

 

[JSCh]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10157605190888163

 

[JSCh]

Chinese firm to deliver 28nm chip manufacturing machine in 2021-2022: reports
Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/7 17:13:40

File photo: A visitor watches a Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group) Co display of how a lithography machine works on November 8, 2013.

Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group) Co (SMEE) will deliver the first domestic 28nm lithography machine between 2021 to 2022, helping narrowing the gap with the world's chip-making technology, industry websites said.

The move is a leapfrog breakthrough for China's semiconductor industry, according to domestic technology website mydrivers.com. Industry website icsmart.cn also reported it is good news for China's semiconductor industry chain.

The US crackdowns on ZTE and Huawei awakened Chinese companies to explore self-developed lithography equipment, which has underscored the urgency and significance of China to develop advanced chip making ability in a bid to avoid being squeezed by the US amid an escalating tech war.

Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday that once SMEE has the ability to deliver 28nm lithography equipment, it will have the opportunity to move forward to 14nm and 7nm lithography equipment, noting that the breakthrough helps the company "accumulate experience" to manufacture high-end chip-making equipment.

The whole world could take part in the chip-making industry instead of a particular country or particular company, so progress by any single company is valuable, Xiang noted.

Founded in 2002, SMEE is one of the advanced lithography machine makers in China and accounts for about 80 percent of the domestic market share, industry websites said.

Lithography machines are one of the core pieces of equipment in chip manufacturing. Netherlands-based chip equipment maker Advanced Semiconductor Material Lithography (ASML) remained a global leader in churning out high-end lithography machines, followed by Nikon and Cano.

Liu Kun, a Beijing-based semiconductor industry analyst noted that even if the core component of the 28nm lithography equipment may not be made in China, it would be a breakthrough for the Chinese company to package such equipment.

It may take three to five years for companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to make the 28nm equipment by itself and there is still a long way to go, but Chinese companies are ramping up efforts, according to Liu.

 

[JustAnotherPerson]

Chinese firm to deliver 28nm chip manufacturing machine in 2021-2022: reports
Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/7 17:13:40

File photo: A visitor watches a Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group) Co display of how a lithography machine works on November 8, 2013.

Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (Group) Co (SMEE) will deliver the first domestic 28nm lithography machine between 2021 to 2022, helping narrowing the gap with the world's chip-making technology, industry websites said.

The move is a leapfrog breakthrough for China's semiconductor industry, according to domestic technology website mydrivers.com. Industry website icsmart.cn also reported it is good news for China's semiconductor industry chain.

The US crackdowns on ZTE and Huawei awakened Chinese companies to explore self-developed lithography equipment, which has underscored the urgency and significance of China to develop advanced chip making ability in a bid to avoid being squeezed by the US amid an escalating tech war.

Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday that once SMEE has the ability to deliver 28nm lithography equipment, it will have the opportunity to move forward to 14nm and 7nm lithography equipment, noting that the breakthrough helps the company "accumulate experience" to manufacture high-end chip-making equipment.

The whole world could take part in the chip-making industry instead of a particular country or particular company, so progress by any single company is valuable, Xiang noted.

Founded in 2002, SMEE is one of the advanced lithography machine makers in China and accounts for about 80 percent of the domestic market share, industry websites said.

Lithography machines are one of the core pieces of equipment in chip manufacturing. Netherlands-based chip equipment maker Advanced Semiconductor Material Lithography (ASML) remained a global leader in churning out high-end lithography machines, followed by Nikon and Cano.

Liu Kun, a Beijing-based semiconductor industry analyst noted that even if the core component of the 28nm lithography equipment may not be made in China, it would be a breakthrough for the Chinese company to package such equipment.

It may take three to five years for companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to make the 28nm equipment by itself and there is still a long way to go, but Chinese companies are ramping up efforts, according to Liu.

So the rumors were truth, the most interesting thing is that this is not the work of SMEE alone, i think they are doing the ASML strategy, They are subdividing the components between multiple companies across China, like one for the dual workbench, another for optics and other for the light source, that is a better strategy than Canon or Nikkon that tend to do all by themselves.
And Also this explain the move of Gigaphoton on establish a Chinese company https://www.gigaphoton.com/en/news/5823 , but i don't know if is Gigaphoton who is providing the light sources for this machine. This also could explain the recent move of ASML in China.
Anyway even if this is not a EUV machine this will really upend any export controls regime, now will be REALLY difficult for the Neocons to convince other nations to implement export controls. People seem to forget that you can advance in jumps.

 

[Paul2]

Gigaphoton makes excimer lasers. I think they dropped work on EUV years ago. Their EUV source needs to double its power to be relevant commercially.

 

[letsrock]

Liu Kun, a Beijing-based semiconductor industry analyst noted that even if the core component of the 28nm lithography equipment may not be made in China, it would be a breakthrough for the Chinese company to package such equipment.

It may take three to five years for companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to make the 28nm equipment by itself and there is still a long way to go, but Chinese companies are ramping up efforts, according to Liu.

I thought lithography is the core component of making semiconductors - now lithography has a core component too? what is it? any idea ?

 

[JustAnotherPerson]

I thought lithography is the core component of making semiconductors - now lithography has a core component too? what is it? any idea ?

Well there multiple core components like the light source, the lenses system, the wafer workbench and any of those has to be almost perfect compared to most other machine requirements. We are talking of nanometers, miliKelvins, picoseconds levels of precision.
This machines are really marvels of modern engineering if you think about it.

 

[letsrock]

Well there multiple core components like the light source, the lenses system, the wafer workbench and any of those has to be almost perfect compared to most other machine requirements. We are talking of nanometers, miliKelvins, picoseconds levels of precision.
This machines are really marvels of modern engineering if you think about it.

which part or comoponent do you think that the person in the article is referring to when he says that the core component may not be china's. Any idea ?

 

[JustAnotherPerson]

which part or component do you think that the person in the article is referring to when he says that the core component may not be china's. Any idea ?

Probably they are referring to the light source, because the wafer stage probably come from a company in China and lens system probably come from an institute or a company created by that institute.
The light source could come from gigaphoton, but that is just my speculation.

 

[F-22Raptor]

China to Fall Far Short of its "Made-in-China 2025" Goal for IC Devices

Domestic content percentage forecast to be about one-third of its 70% 2025 target.

IC Insights will release its May Update to the 2020 McClean Report later this month. This Update is part of a series of monthly updates to The McClean Report that will be released through November of this year. The following evaluation of China’s IC market is an excerpt from the original McClean Report released in January.

IC production in China represented 15.7% of its $125 billion IC market in 2019, up only slightly from 15.1% five years earlier in 2014. As shown in Figure 1, IC Insights forecasts that this share will increase by 5.0 percentage points to 20.7% in 2024 (one percentage point per year on average).

A very clear distinction should be made between China’s IC market and indigenous IC production in China. As IC Insights has oftentimes stated, although China has been the largest consuming market for ICs since 2005, it does not necessarily mean that large increases in IC production within China would immediately follow, or ever follow.

Of the $19.5 billion worth of ICs manufactured in China last year, China-headquartered companies produced only $7.6 billion (38.7%), accounting for only 6.1% of the country’s $124.6 billion IC market. TSMC, SK Hynix, Samsung, Intel, and other foreign companies that have IC wafer fabs located in China produced the rest. IC Insights estimates that of the $7.6 billion in ICs manufactured by China-based companies, about $1.8 billion was from IDMs and $5.8 billion was from foundries like SMIC.

If China-based IC manufacturing rises to $43.0 billion in 2024 as IC Insights forecasts, China-based IC production would still represent only 8.5% of the total forecasted 2024 worldwide IC market of $507.5 billion. Even after adding a significant markup to some of the Chinese foundry producers’ IC sales, China-based IC production is still likely represent only about 10% of the global IC market in 2024.

2019

Worldwide IC Market ($B) — $358.4

China IC Market ($B) — $124.6



China-based IC Production ($B) — $19.5

% of WW IC Market 5.4%

% of China IC Market 15.7%



China-HQ IC Production ($B) — $7.6

% of total China IC Production 38.7%

% of WW IC Market 2.1%

% of China IC Market 6.1%

Currently, IC production in China is forecast to exhibit a very strong 2019-2024 CAGR of 17%. However, considering that China-based IC production was only $19.5 billion last year, this growth is starting from a relatively small base. In 2019, SK Hynix, Samsung, Intel, and TSMC were the major foreign IC manufacturers that had significant IC production capability in China.

Even with new IC production being established by China startups YMTC and CXMT, IC Insights believes that foreign companies will be a large part of the future IC production base in China. As a result, IC Insights forecasts that at least 50% of IC production in China in 2024 will come from foreign companies such as SK Hynix, Samsung, Intel, TSMC, UMC, and Powerchip with fabs in China.

In the wake of tariffs and trade tension between China and the United States, government officials and company representatives throughout China have doubled down on their resolve to quickly and meaningfully grow the nation’s domestic IC business in order to reduce its dependence on critical IC components currently supplied by companies based in the U.S. and other countries.

In the memory IC market specifically, some headlines and reports last year proclaimed that China is “unstoppable” and will soon match the output and technology level of Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. When those types of claims emerge, a reality check is in order.

Consider that China’s first indigenous DRAM supplier, Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), only began limited production of its first DRAM products in 4Q19. This company has a few thousand employees and a capital spending budget of about $1.5 billion per year. In contrast, Micron and SK Hynix each have well over 30,000 employees and Samsung’s memory division is estimated to have over 40,000. Moreover, in 2019, the combined capital spending from Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron was $39.7 billion. Now that’s a reality check!

While China continues to make large investments in its memory manufacturing infrastructure and has developed some clever design innovations in an attempt to avoid potential patent disputes, IC Insights remains extremely skeptical whether the country can develop a large competitive indigenous memory industry even over the next 10 years that comes anywhere close to meeting its memory IC needs.

One major issue that many observers overlook with regard to China becoming more self-reliant for its IC needs is its lack of indigenous non-memory IC technology. Currently, there are no major Chinese analog, mixed-signal, server MPU, MCU, or specialty logic IC manufacturers. Moreover, these IC product segments, which represented over half of China’s IC market last year, are dominated by well-entrenched foreign IC producers with decades of experience and thousands of employees.

While everyone is focused on China’s moves in the memory market, becoming self-reliant in non-memory IC segments poses an even more difficult problem for China. In IC Insights’ opinion, it will take decades for Chinese companies to become competitive in the non-memory IC product segments.

Currently, China is putting on a brave face with regard to its future IC industry capabilities. However, given the extremely small and undeveloped starting base of Chinese company IC production and technology today, and with increasing difficulty to purchase advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, IC Insights believes it is essentially impossible for China to make significant strides in becoming self-sufficient for its IC needs (memory and non-memory) within the next 5 years and probably not even within the next 10 years.

https://www.icinsights.com/news/bul...-Of-Its-MadeinChina-2025-Goal-For-IC-Devices/

 

[JSCh]

SMIC explains 28nm, 14nm products in response to China A-share listing inquiries - cnTechPost
2020-06-08 16:39:52 GMT+8 | cnTechPost

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the biggest chipmaker on the Chinese mainland, responded to the first round of questions for the listing on the Sci-Tech innovation board (STAR Market) on June 7 when the company provided approximately 200 pages of responses.

The reply means that it took only four days for the company to respond after receiving the first round of questions on June 4, setting a record for the fastest response to a STAR Market review question.


In its response, the company said that SMIC, as the most technologically advanced, largest, best-supported and multinational professional wafer foundry in mainland China, will be able to provide a full range of services to its customers.

In 2019, its first-generation 14nm FinFET technology will be in volume production, but behind the ramp times of competitors such as TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and United Microelectronics Corporation.

Its second-generation FinFET technology platform is in the customer introduction phase.

The company's fund-raising investment project 12-inch SN1 project process technology level is 14nm and below, facing the surge of downstream market demand, the company's existing capacity shows a situation of huge demand and supply shortage.

SMIC also said that the 28nm process technology mainly serves end customers in the fields of mobile phone SOC chip, IoT, digital TV, etc., and the 14nm process IC wafer foundry business mainly serves end customers in the fields of mobile phone application processors.

There are currently four pure-play foundries worldwide that have the technical capability to provide 14nm technology nodes, while there are currently three actual foundries with 14nm technology nodes. There are only three pure-play foundries left in terms of revenue. These two types of process technologies currently account for a relatively small share of the global market.

SMIC said that, at present, no company in mainland China has the mass production capacity of advanced process below 14nm. As the first IC foundry in mainland China to achieve mass production at 14nm, it has the advanced technology of 14nm and below. technology base and financial strength required for process development.

Compared to 14nm in first-generation FinFET technology, the company expects that second-generation FinFETs will be more cost effective. The technology is expected to improve performance by about 20% and reduce power consumption by about 60%.

Advanced processes of 14nm and below are mainly applied in emerging fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence, intelligent driving and high-speed computing. The development prospects are bright.

In response to the STAR Market's question about the gross margin of the two types of products, SMIC indicated that the current gross margin of 14nm and 14nm products is about 1.5 percent. The process technology is in a steady ramp-up phase in terms of capacity and production, with a positive gross margin during the reporting period.

Wafer foundry for 14nm process has been in volume production since Q4 2019 and is currently producing 6,000 wafers per month.


The negative gross margin for 28nm was mainly due to the global 28nm market, which was affected by industry supply and demand. Current 28nm product prices are down compared to 2017 average prices and the associated production lines continue to face high depreciation pressure.

SMIC has issued a risk warning, saying that with the production and expansion of 28nm, 14nm and next generation processes, there will be a significant increase in the number of devices that can be produced.

SMIC said it will face greater depreciation pressure over a certain period of time, posing a risk that the overall gross margin will fluctuate, which will have an impact on the company's profit levels Some impact.

On the R&D front, in the first quarter, Chief Executive Officer H.E. Zhao said he would significantly increase capital spending by $1.1 billion. SMIC's production capacity has increased to $4.3 billion to fully meet market demand.

As previously planned, SMIC 14nm and subsequent process are expected to ramp up production to 4,000 units per month in March and 9,000 per month in July. It is expected the combined capacity will expand to 15,000 per month by the end of 2020.

Approximately 40% of the proceeds from the SMIC will be used for the 12-inch chip SN1 project, and approximately 20% will be used for the 12-inch chip SN1 project. The remaining 40% will be used as additional working capital.