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How China plans to lead the computer chip industry
On a university campus on the outskirts of Hong Kong a group of engineers are designing computer chips they hope will be used in the next generation of Chinese made smart phones. Patrick Yue leans back in his chair in a coffee shop on the campus, sporting a Stanford University t-shirt. He is the lead engineer and professor overseeing the project. His research team designs optical communication chips, which use light rather than electrical signals to transfer information, and are needed in 5G mobile phones and other internet-connected devices.
[...] China has made no secret of its desire to become self-sufficient in technology. The nation is both the world's largest importer and consumer of semiconductors. It currently produces just 16% of the semiconductors fuelling its tech boom. But it has plans to produce 40% of all semiconductors it uses by 2020, and 70% by 2025, an ambitious plan spurred by the trade war with the US. [...] In October this year, in its latest bid to help wean the nation's tech sector away from US technology, the Chinese government created a $29bn (£22m) fund to support the semiconductor industry.
"There is no question that China has the engineers to make chips. The question is whether they can make competitive ones," questions Piero Scaruffi, a Silicon Valley historian, and artificial intelligence researcher who works in Silicon Valley. "Certainly, Huawei can develop its own chips and operating systems, and the government can make sure that they will be successful in China. But Huawei and other Chinese phone makers are successful also in foreign markets, and that's a totally different question: Will Huawei's chips and operating systems be as competitive as Qualcomm's and Android? Most likely not. At best, it will take years before they are," Mr Scaruffi adds.
Mr Scaruffi estimates that China could be as many as 10 years behind the leading producers of high-end computer chips. The majority of chips made for high-end electronics are manufactured by specialist foundries like the Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). It produces more than 70% of chips designed by third party companies.
[...] [Yue] believes that Chinese technology is three to four generations behind companies like TSMC. China lacks the industry experience to manufacture high end chips, he says. But he believes that companies like Huawei are already competitive when it comes to designing chips.
Related: China's SMIC Produces its First "14nm" FinFET Chips
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) Starts "14nm" FinFET Volume Production
(Score: 3, Informative) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday November 20 2019, @04:20PM (8 children)
An interesting article about some beliefs of Mr. Scaruffi.
Now, reality check:
https://eu.jsonline.com/story/archives/2017/08/02/china-engineers-its-next-great-leap-its-students/527951001/ [jsonline.com]
That was two years ago. You have already lost. 5G comm is a proof of that.
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday November 20 2019, @04:44PM (6 children)
Yes/No.
China produces excellent technologists, scientists, etc. It also leads the world in faked results. And the person in official charge of reducing that appears to be a strong practitioner of faking. https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2019/11/19/a-research-scandal-in-china [sciencemag.org]
So they've got some management problems to overcome, at minimum.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @05:03PM
It also leads the world in "borrowed" results
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @05:07PM
I think this sort of argument is akin to trying to assess China's ability to manufacture products by looking at the cheapest shoddy knock-offs you can find, and then implying that such an issue is inherent in all Chinese manufacturing. Of course what matters is what's happening as a whole. Are they advancing or not? At what rate? E.g. I think most of our entire field of psychology, let alone the psychotropics and "psychological techniques" it peddles, are going to go down in history about as well as astrology and lobotomies have. But the nonsense going on over there has in no way interfered with e.g. our progress in advancing space technologies or continuing to explore particle physics.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday November 20 2019, @05:08PM (3 children)
In Chinese cultural paradigm, Qi is a legitimate concept, rooted in philosophy.
Compare that to the fact many of old European universities still have plenty of theology faculties, graduating priests by the very same academic rituals as scientists and engineers, often in very same halls.
https://www.ktf.cuni.cz/KTF-1.html [ktf.cuni.cz]
https://htf.cuni.cz/HTF-1.html [htf.cuni.cz]
https://www.kuleuven.be/english/ [kuleuven.be]
https://www.ku-eichstaett.de/en [ku-eichstaett.de]
In western culture, theology is still a science. No wonder Chinese despise us as barbarians...
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday November 20 2019, @06:33PM
Yeah, we should also add liberal arts to the list of theologies and "education through sports" bright idea (noticed last weekend at Princeton)
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:18PM
Excuse me, but I don't see how that justifies using copied photographs in different studies.
I've got nothing against Qi or chi or even elan vital in a study, but that doesn't justify fraudulent evidence. (And, of course, your evidence will need to be a lot stronger. Rhine didn't make the cut.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday November 21 2019, @03:31PM
And SN has Karma which one gets by up mods from other weirdos on the internet. This is all deeply relevant to management problems in China.
You definitely should turn that into a YouTube video. I can see the obvious, logical extensions of this principle. Scientists drive on roads, so do pimply, teen-age burger flippers. So in Western culture, burger flipping is still a science!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday November 20 2019, @04:57PM
quantity vs. quality. Political biases could preclude the latter. How many foreigners are flocking to Chinese universities?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..