A Shanghai-based chipmaker called Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp( SMIC ) is alleged to have advanced its technology and provided Huawei Technologies with 7 nanometer chips, dodging American sanctions. & nbsp,
Some analysts had speculated that the Kirin 9000s, the phone’s central processing unit( CPU ) chipset, could have been produced either by TSMC before the US curbs took effect in September 2020 or by SMIC with its most recent technology after Huawei unexpectedly announced on August 29 its plan to sell the Mate60 Pro.
According to the most recent analysis, this is the case because SMIC has already developed the N 2 processing technique for producing high-energy 7nm chips using deep – ultraviolet ( DUV ) lithography.
The Mate60 Pro reached 350 megabits per second, which is comparable to Apple Inc. ‘ s handsets, according to speed and performance testing done by French research firm TechInsights for Bloomberg. It was discovered that the phone has 5G wireless capabilities and a SMIC system-on-chip ( SoC ) processor.
This information has generated a lot of enthusiasm. A semiconductor analyst named Lu Xingzhi makes the following comments in an article published on Monday: & nbsp,
SMIC needs to have a N 2 production capacity of about 144, 000 wafers if it is producing 169 square millimeter waves with an 80 % yield. It may create 24, 000 chips per month, which is much more than anticipated, if it must do so within six months.
According to Lu, if these projections are accurate, Chief Executive Liang Mong – Song and his team have significantly advanced SMIC’s 7nm chip technology. He claims that this growth may be taken into consideration by other industry people.
Agreements or gaps? & nbsp,
Background: Huawei was prohibited from buying US hardware and software in May 2019 by the US Department of Commerce. Additionally, the Dutch government was forced to forbid the export of ASML’s most cutting-edge extreme-ultraviolet ( EUV ) lithography, which can produce chips weighing 3 to 7nm with a single exposure and 2 to 2nmm or less with multiple exposures, to China. & nbsp,
Taiwan’s TSMC stopped making Kirin cards for the Shenzhen-based company in September 2020. According to industry research, Huawei may have exhausted its supply of 5G chips in the second quarter of 2022. & nbsp,
The US announced bit export restrictions against China in October and prohibited US citizens from offering services to Chinese chipmakers. China, however, might still be able to exploit some of these limits. & nbsp,
First off, Liang, a former TSMC and Samsung professional, is eligible to work for SMIC because he is Japanese and no American. Second, the US government did not exert sufficient pressure on the Netherlands to prevent ASML from exporting DUV printing to China over the next three years or to keep an eye on its equipment’s selling. & nbsp,
Chinese media reported earlier this year that Huawei and SMIC had begun buying used DUV lithography internally, primarily from shut-down factories. & nbsp,
The US just asked ASML and Tokyo Electron Limited to limit their supplies to China, according to Chinese technology analyst Chai Huan-shin, but it did not forbid chipmakers from selling their machinery. According to Chai, this gap allowed China to gather sufficient DUV printing to produce 7nm bits.
Theoretically, according to some experts, ASML could stop offering repair service to sanctioned Chinese chipmakers and their associates, but this would necessitate more negotiations between the US and French governments. & nbsp,
The Netherlands and the US agreed in March that starting on September 1 ASML would be required to use for trade licenses for supplies of its DUV printing, including the Twinscan NXT: 2000i and later immersion systems. & nbsp,
However, ASML announced last Friday that it was permitted to deliver those techniques until the end of the year after US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimond visited Beijing from August 27 to August 30.
Semiconductor Manufacturing South China Corp.( SMSC ), a SMIC subsidiary, successfully produced 10nm chips in October 2020 using its FinFET N 1 process, which is said to have performance levels comparable to 7nM chips. At the time, Liang claimed that the business was creating N 2 chips, which are compatible with high-energy processors. But since then, he has hardly provided any updates. & nbsp,
TechInsights discovered that in July 2021, SMSC secretly sold its N 1 chips to MinerVa Semiconductor, a supplier of bitcoin miner based in Henan. The N 2 chips from SMSC are now visible inside Huawei’s Mate60 Pro.
‘2035CN’
When a Taiwanese tool expert by the last name of Yang last week discovered an” 2035CN” logo on the Kirin 9000s chip, the apparently now-resolved questions of when the Mate60 Pro’s chipset was made and who made it came up.
According to one theory, the classification indicated that the device was made in China during the 35th week of 2020, just before TSMC ceased producing HiSilicon chips on September 15 of that year. & nbsp,
However, the” 2035CN” label was likely created to mislead people or commemorate a special day, according to Shenzhen-based tech expert Bai on his YouTube channel. In reality, China has been working to achieve the 2035 deadline for completely digitizing its manufacturing industry. & nbsp,
Bai adds that he is not surprised SMIC was able to develop the N 2 technology, which TSMC had done seven years prior. He claims that a development in China’s electronic design automation( EDA ) software led to the breakthrough. & nbsp,
He claims that in the coming years, China may be able to produce 5nm or smaller chips using its own EUV printing.
Read: Chinese chip shares for Huawei’s fresh phone juices
Read: If Huawei revives 5G cards, produce and price are in question.
At & nbsp, @ jeffpao3 is Jeff Pao’s Twitter account.