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posted by martyb on Monday July 06 2020, @02:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the you-want-us-make-our-own-instead-of-buying-yours? dept.

SMIC – China's Largest Semiconductor Foundry – to Raise Around $6.55 Billion in Fresh Funding as the Company Leverages Its Enhanced Importance

SMIC, the operator of the largest semiconductor foundry in China, has adopted a pivotal role in the ongoing multi-faceted spat between the U.S. and China. The company has become the focal point of a concerted effort by Beijing to maintain a continuous supply of semiconductors to the local industry even as Washington tries to thwart this flow, as evidenced by the Trump administration's efforts to block silicon heavyweights around the globe from delivering semiconductor components to Huawei or its affiliate HiSilicon.

Nonetheless, SMIC appears ready to deploy its added heft in order to secure economic gains. As an illustration, in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday, the company revealed that it will raise as much as 46.29 billion yuan or $6.55 billion by selling new shares on the exchange at a price of 27.46 yuan per share. Interestingly, the latest financing target is more than double the 20 billion yuan that SMIC originally sought to raise.

[...] As stated earlier, leading Chinese tech enterprise have been subjected to a relentless volley by Washington over the recent months as the multifaceted spat between the U.S. and China continues to escalate. Back in May, the U.S. banned the export of any semiconductor that incorporated American technology to Huawei or its affiliate, HiSilicon. Given these evolving dynamics, Huawei is now increasingly relying upon the silicon components sourced from SMIC for the wide range of its products.

See also: How much trouble is Huawei in?
Intel resumes shipment to Chinese server maker Inspur
Huawei builds up 2-year reserve of 'most essential' US chips

Previously: China Lags Behind Other Countries in Semiconductor Manufacturing
China's SMIC Produces its First "14nm" FinFET Chips
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) Starts "14nm" FinFET Volume Production
How China Plans to Lead the Computer Chip Industry
TSMC Dumps Huawei


Original Submission

Related Stories

China Lags Behind Other Countries in Semiconductor Manufacturing 21 comments

China Is Still Multiple Generations Behind In Chip Manufacturing

When it comes to the actual foundries China has within its borders, the picture isn't good for the country. Perhaps the most advanced foundry there is owned by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). A company spokesperson late last year said, "Our 14nm technology will start risk production by 2019, 12nm process development is completed and under customer verification."

Keep in mind how much further along the rest of the world is: TSMC (Taiwan) is already producing high performance AMD CPUs on its 7nm process with low power Apple parts having shipped in 2018, Samsung is readying advanced EUV production lines for NVIDIA's next generation of graphics chips, and Intel is rolling out its 7nm-equivalent this year as well. We even reported yesterday that TSMC is now actively developing its 2nm node!

If China's most advanced foundry is only beginning low-volume 14nm production this year, that would put them about four or five years behind the rest of the world. An eternity in the world of semiconductors.

For now, Huawei is building their world-class and cutting edge SoC, Kirin 980 on TSMC's 7nm process. If they were forced to use SMIC's 14nm process it would force them to regress in both performance and efficiency which would be a death-knell. Currently the Kirin 980 can compete with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855, but should Huawei be forced to fab its chips within its own countries[sic] borders this wouldn't be the case.

[...] It seems Chinese companies will have to do things the old fashioned way and grit their way through the learning curve with using these chip-production tools. One way around this would be to hire talent away from companies with a mature understanding of the technology, but even this is proving difficult.

For instance a Chinese DRAM company CXMT attempted to hire away a top Samsung engineer who had expertise in his field, but a South Korean court blocked the move. Kim Chi-wook headed the company's DRAM design team and would be a home-run hire for any DRAM company lacking knowledge. The court made no qualms about the fact that the engineer getting hired by CXMT would potentially hurt Samsung's competitive edge. They wrote, "Chinese semiconductor companies are estimated to be three years to 10 years behind in technology gap regarding DRAM designing technique."


Original Submission

China's SMIC Produces its First "14nm" FinFET Chips 7 comments

SMIC: 14nm FinFET in Risk Production; China's First FinFET Line To Contribute Revenue by Late 2019

SMIC, the largest contract maker of semiconductors in China, announced this month that it would start commercial production of chips using its 14 nm FinFET manufacturing technology by the end of the year. This is the first FinFET manufacturing line in China, making it a notable development for a country that already houses a significant number of fabs, as the world's leading-edge manufacturers never installed FinFET technology in China for geopolitical and IP reasons. SMIC in turn seems to expect a rather rapid ramp of its 14 nm node, as it anticipates the new manufacturing line will meaningfully contribute to its revenue before the end of the year.

According to SMIC, their 14 nm FinFET manufacturing technology was developed entirely in-house and is expected to significantly increase transistor density, increase performance, and lower power consumption of chips when compared to devices made using the company's 28 nm process that relies on planar transistors. Earlier this year it was expected that SMIC would start production of 14 nm chips already in the first half of 2019, so the firm seems to be a little behind the schedule. Nonetheless, an in-house FinFET process technology is quite a breakthrough for a relatively small company that puts it into a club with just five[*] other foundries with FinFET technologies.

Fin Field-Effect Transistor (FinFET).

[*] SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) would be joining the ranks of these five other companies with FinFET technology: TSMC, Samsung Electronics, Intel, Global Foundries, and SK Hynix.

Previously: China Lags Behind Other Countries in Semiconductor Manufacturing


Original Submission

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) Starts "14nm" FinFET Volume Production 4 comments

SMIC Begins Volume Production of 14 nm FinFET[*] Chips: China's First FinFET Line:

SMIC has started volume production of chips using its 14 nm FinFET manufacturing technology. The largest contract maker of semiconductors in China is the first company in the country to join the FinFET club, as only a handful of companies have managed to develop fabrication processes that rely on such transistors. SMIC's FinFET line is considerably smaller than those of other foundries, yet the fact that the company is using it is already a big deal for China.

SMIC's previous-generation manufacturing technology is 28 nm, so the 14 nm process tangibly increases transistor density, boosts performance, and lowers power consumption, which naturally enables the company to produce more complex and expensive chips that were otherwise outsourced to its larger rivals. At present, SMIC ramps up production using its 14 nm process technology at one of its 300-mm fabs, so initial volumes are not high. Meanwhile, SMIC's plans include building up a new 300-mm production line for 14 nm and thinner process technologies with a monthly capacity of 35,000 wafer starts per month. Construction of the fab was completed earlier this year and the company is currently installing production equipment.

In addition to ramp of its 1st Generation FinFET platform, SMIC's development of its 12 nm process is well underway and there are customers who plan to use the technology. Furthermore, the company is developing more advanced processes, including those that will require extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) tools, that will be used next decade. In fact, the company has even acquired an EUV step-and-scan system from ASML[**], but it has not been installed so far.

[*] Wikipedia FinFET entry.
[**] ASML home page and Wikipedia entry.

The Chinese GPU manufacturer Jingjia Micro has been reportedly working on a "28nm" GPU that could take on Nvidia's "16nm" GTX 1080. Improved (but not "industry leading") process nodes from SMIC could allow Chinese companies to pump out dirt cheap hardware that can compete favorably with products from the likes of Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. Here's a video (13m37s) about how there could be a 5-way GPU market (Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Jingjia, and ARM).

Previously: China Lags Behind Other Countries in Semiconductor Manufacturing
China's SMIC Produces its First "14nm" FinFET Chips


Original Submission

How China Plans to Lead the Computer Chip Industry 23 comments

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


Original Submission

TSMC Dumps Huawei 32 comments

TSMC reportedly stops taking orders from Huawei after new U.S. export controls

Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract semiconductor maker, has stopped taking new orders from Huawei Technologies, one of its largest customers, according to the Nikkei Asian Review. The report said the decision was made to comply with new United States export controls, announced last Friday, that are meant to make it more difficult for Huawei to obtain chips produced using U.S. technology, including manufacturing equipment.

Huawei hits back at US as TSMC cuts off chip orders

Huawei rotating chairman Guo Ping has hit back at the US government's stricter export controls intended to stop the Chinese tech giant from obtaining essential chips, following reports that its biggest supplier has already cut it off. "We still haven't figured it out," Guo said on stage at Huawei's annual analyst summit. "The US government still persists in attacking Huawei, but what will that bring to the world?"

"In its relentless pursuit to tighten its stranglehold on our company, the US government has decided to proceed and completely ignore the concerns of many companies and industry associations," Huawei adds in an official statement. "This decision was arbitrary and pernicious, and threatens to undermine the entire industry worldwide. This new rule will impact the expansion, maintenance, and continuous operations of networks worth hundreds of billions of dollars that we have rolled out in more than 170 countries."

"We expect that our business will inevitably be affected," Huawei's statement continues. "We will try all we can to seek a solution."

See also: Huawei Braces for Latest U.S. Hit, but Some Say Loopholes Remain
TSMC Accepts US Kill Order & Suspends Future Huawei Contracts

Previously: U.S. Attempting to Restrict TSMC Sales to Huawei
Washington in Talks with Chipmakers about Building U.S. Factories
TSMC Will Build a $12 Billion "5nm" Fab in Arizona


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Monday July 06 2020, @11:45AM (1 child)

    by driverless (4770) on Monday July 06 2020, @11:45AM (#1016957)

    Without his endless China-bashing and childish take-my-toys-and-go-home tantrums, SMIC would be just another also-ran known only to other Chinese vendors. Now it's making international headlines and a ton of money. While I'm not much of a Trump supporter I've gotta say he's achieved quite a lot in this case.

    For China, at least.

    • (Score: 2, Disagree) by takyon on Monday July 06 2020, @04:18PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday July 06 2020, @04:18PM (#1017116) Journal

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_Manufacturing_International_Corporation [wikipedia.org]

      On June 23, 2015, Huawei, Qualcomm Global Trading Pte. Ltd., IMEC International, and SMIC announced the formation of the SMIC Advanced Technology Research & Development (Shanghai) Corporation, an equity joint venture company. The joint venture company's focus was to be the R&D for the next generation CMOS logic technology and was designed to build China’s most advanced integrated circuit (IC) development R&D platform. SMIC Advanced Technology R&D (Shanghai) Corporation is majority owned by SMIC, while Huawei, IMEC, and Qualcomm are minority shareholders. The focus of the joint venture company is on developing 14 nm logic technology.

      President Trump may have given China more urgency to develop its own chips, but these moves were well underway before he came into office. The bigger problem has been China stealing or being given access to trade secrets. Not that you can blame them for taking candy from a baby.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 06 2020, @11:58AM (7 children)

    by hendrikboom (1125) on Monday July 06 2020, @11:58AM (#1016964) Homepage Journal

    China could easily retaliate by restricting the supply of rare earths to the US.

    • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 06 2020, @12:04PM (6 children)

      by hendrikboom (1125) on Monday July 06 2020, @12:04PM (#1016967) Homepage Journal

      Instead, they are simply using their own resources at home.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 06 2020, @12:38PM (5 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 06 2020, @12:38PM (#1016985)

        War isn't really good for either side. I've seen some nutty conspiracy theories out there that the current U.S. coin shortage is due to govt. redirection of metals to military stockpiles as well as Chinese export cuts... I don't quite class those with the "WHO says COVID is harmless" crap that's circulating on Fecebook lately, but the truth is: even without bullets and bombs, the U.S. can hurt China, China can hurt U.S. - only idiots (on either side) would push for conflict because "we can win." Sadly, idiots are not in short supply.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday July 06 2020, @06:51PM (4 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 06 2020, @06:51PM (#1017233) Journal
          The coin shortage does need some explaining. As I understand it, US coins have a long lifespan, something like twenty years. So how did the US get into a mild shortage in four months? The coin supply would have shrunk a few percent at most even with zero replacement.

          I don't see higher usage of coins doing it either since cash is seeing a slowdown.

          So something else is likely taking coins out of circulation. Maybe it's the next toilet paper. Or maybe the theory above. Though if it were that, you'd think they'd replace the coin they pull out with something less valuable.
          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 06 2020, @07:12PM (3 children)

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 06 2020, @07:12PM (#1017248)

            So how did the US get into a mild shortage in four months?

            The only explanation I've seen or heard is "as a result of the COVID crisis"... which I might almost buy as "the next toilet paper" but with a twist: people just aren't fishing around for exact change as much, nor returning coins to banks or other recycling centers as much, as a result they're building their home stockpiles of coins - perhaps without even thinking about it. I might have collected a surplus $4 in coins over the past 4 months, as compared to normal, but I'm 95+% credit based. Assume the "average" U.S. citizen is only 50% credit based and behaving similarly: $10 per month x ~300 million is ~$3B per month in non-returned coins. I can see how +$10B in non-returned coins could become an issue for the mints.

            What I find incredible (un-credible?) is the fact that this trend should have been observable over the past 4 months and apparently nothing was done to manage it until banks started informing commercial customers a few days ago: gee, sorry, we're out. I know about the 1940-whatever pennies that were made of steel to divert copper supplies to the war effort, but I don't think I know of any time that the U.S. government was so soundly asleep at the wheel that they just hit the wall and said "oops, out of hard currency starting in 72 hours, sorry about that."

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            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 07 2020, @03:30AM (2 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 07 2020, @03:30AM (#1017492) Journal

              What I find incredible (un-credible?) is the fact that this trend should have been observable over the past 4 months and apparently nothing was done to manage it until banks started informing commercial customers a few days ago: gee, sorry, we're out.

              To the contrary, it sounds like it was managed to some degree. After all, we didn't hear about it until recently. I figure people are less likely to hoard pennies now than when toilet paper was in high demand.

              • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday July 07 2020, @01:57PM (1 child)

                by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday July 07 2020, @01:57PM (#1017634)

                it sounds like it was managed to some degree. After all, we didn't hear about it until recently.

                So, managed in secret, but we don't hear about it until the banks are literally out of coins?

                Color me: unimpressed.

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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2020, @04:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 06 2020, @04:33PM (#1017130)

    i wonder what is more difficult:
    putting chips you have into cases you don't -or- putting chips you don't have into cases you do.
    i suppose what you really need is the ability to "put".
    as for chips, they are "put" or made by ... well chips (in robots the size of factories).
    cases on the other hand, are made in china by robots resembling humans.
    the problem is simple to solve: make the robots human again by shrinking them factory sized robots and teach them to make cases and putting chips into them?
    (ofc the artificial made "fear barometer" might fall which others call the "remind me again why we need a government"-gauge.) Nnnoooooo!

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