Used or new, does not matter:
As the U.S. government is gearing up to put even stricter constraints on the Chinese semiconductor sector, China-based chipmakers are accelerating their purchases of wafer fab equipment (WFE) to ensure the continuous operation of their fabs. However, Chinese companies prefer to keep these transactions under the radar as some violate U.S. sanctions, reports DigiTimes.
Companies like SMIC, HuaHong, Nexchip, and Silan Microelectronics are buying everything they can, including second-hand tools, according to the story that cites anonymous industrial sources. Some of the WFE they procure cannot be shipped to China as this would violate the U.S.-imposed sanctions, which is precisely the reason why parties prefer to keep such purchases low profile.
Interestingly, even Huawei — which is under severe sanctions by the U.S. government and legally cannot procure anything containing advanced U.S. technology without permission — is stepping up purchasing wafer fab tools. Perhaps, as it is prepping to build a fab with SMIC, it wants to get as many tools as possible.
Previously: U.S. Sanctions Against China Could Hurt Own Domestic Industry: Semiconductor Industry Association
Related:
- Netherlands Refuses to Summarily Agree to US Export Restrictions on China Over Silicon Chips
- Huawei Patents EUV Lithography Tools Used to Make <10nm Chips
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Another step towards technological self-sufficiency:
Huawei has patented one component used in EUV lithography systems that is required to make high-end processors on sub-10 nm nodes. It solves the problem of interference patterns created by the ultraviolet light that would otherwise make the wafer uneven.
[...] EUV lithography systems are currently made exclusively by Dutch company ASML. EUV lithography relies on the same principles as older forms of lithography but uses light with a wavelength of about 13.5 nm, which is almost an X-ray. ASML generates the ultraviolet light from fast-moving droplets of molten tin that are about 25 microns in diameter.
[...] ASML needed more than €6 billion and 17 years to develop the first batch of EUV lithography machines that could be sold. But before they were finished, the US government pressured the Dutch government into banning exports to China, restricting the nation to the older DUV (deep ultraviolet) technology. [...]
Chinese companies like Huawei were previously able to send their designs to fabs like TSMC for manufacture with EUV lithography. But since the US imposed sanctions on China that has been decreasingly possible. Huawei needs access to the advanced nodes that use EUV lithography to continue to improve on its custom processors, which target everything from smartphones to data centers. It has a long way to go before it can make its own EUV systems but they are receiving plenty of capital and support from the government to get there.
Netherlands refuses to summarily agree to US export restrictions on China over silicon chips.:
The United States of America has requested a number of countries in Europe and Asia to impose sanctions on Chinese chip manufacturing firms. One of these, the Netherlands, has come out and put a statement saying that they will not summarily accept new US restrictions on exporting chip-making technology to China, and is consulting with European and Asian allies.
The Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher on Sunday said that he expects the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to discuss export policy with President Joe Biden when Prime Minister Rutte visits the US.
In effect though, the Netherlands has stopped ASML Holding from shipping its most advanced machines to China and is only allowing them to sell machinery and technology that were made before 2019.
The Dutch government has denied ASML permission to ship its most advanced machines to China since 2019 following a pressure campaign by the Trump administration, but ASML did sell 2 billion euros worth of older machines to China in 2021.
The US took action in October to limit China's capacity to produce its own chips, and US trade officials stated at the time that they anticipated the Netherlands and Japan to follow suit soon. ASML has said that should the rules proposed by the US come into play, it could impact roughly 5 per cent of its group sales.
Previously: Dutch Chip Equipment Maker ASML's CEO Questions U.S. Export Rules on China
U.S. Sanctions Against China Could Hurt Own Domestic Industry: SIA:
While the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) — the organization that represents 99% of chip companies in America — understands how important national security is, it believes that curbs against potentially hostile nations could hurt the U.S. semiconductor industry as a whole.
After the U.S. government imposed strict sanctions against Chinese chip and supercomputer sectors, various semiconductor companies lost some $240 billion of stock value nearly overnight. Among those who suffered are various companies, including developers of electronics design automation (EDA) tools, chip designers, wafer fab equipment (WFE) producers, and chipmakers themselves. Without money from Chinese clients, the U.S. semiconductor industry will certainly live and prosper, but with them, it would develop quicker, SIA notes.
"U.S. semiconductor companies are dependent on a "virtuous cycle" of innovation that includes large investments into research and development and access to global markets," a press release by SIA reads. "Historically, U.S. semiconductor companies have consistently invested about one-fifth of their revenues in research and development, among the highest shares of any industry."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by crafoo on Saturday February 11, @03:21PM (13 children)
You may not remember Trump's Buy American Act but I do. Defense contractors were frantically on-shoring technologies and even talking about helping suppliers setup production in the USA. Quality engineers were screening domestic suppliers of potential drop-in replacement parts for Chinese suppliers. It was serious. Then Biden was elected and all of that ended and quickly reversed.
Global free-trade is a mind-virus used by weird little neurotic men in funny hats to convince you to hand over control of your economy and monetary system to the international clique of trans-atlantic bankers.
(Score: 1) by dg on Saturday February 11, @05:17PM
If I respond angrily to your post, do you get paid an extra couple of kopecks?
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Saturday February 11, @06:08PM (5 children)
> Global free-trade is a mind-virus used by weird little neurotic men
Ad hominem.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by XivLacuna on Saturday February 11, @07:07PM (4 children)
Personally I think it is an accurate description of those who promote global free-trade. Go for the lowest bidder no matter the long term consequences to our economy, industry, and infrastructure. Extract as much money as they can before moving on to the next sucker willing to accept their money at the expense of the long term stability and quality of life for their nation.
If you have an infected tooth you have three options: Root canal, tooth extraction, or death from infection. Now imagine if someone called you an anti-toothite pearly white teeth supremacist if you select any option other than the last. Infact even complaining about the pain in the mouth makes you a pearly white teeth supremacist. Wanting your mouth to only contain healthy teeth is exclusionary to any other kind of teeth in your mouth and is an unacceptable bigotry.
You've probably heard the line "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." This applies to everyone. How does the "ad hominem" treat those who saved them from being exterminated? They import people from all across the world to suppress our wages, increase housing costs, and morphed our society into a hellscape that people need anti-depressants to tolerate. They promote everything they can to weaken us.
The United States of America can't financially recover because of how the hellscape is set up. There aren't enough net positive taxpayers left to cover the net negative tax recipients. Our yearly interest payments on debt have exceeded the military budget. We're losing our position as a reserve currency used to pay for fuel.
That isn't to say all is lost. The debt to the international bankers can be written off. Our government can print silver certificate currency again. We can force employers, landlords, and assistance programs to use eVerify. We can forbid foreign nationals from owning our buildings and infrastructure with legislation.
inb4 -1 troll/flamebait because no one of sound mind could possibly think like this since it is current year.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11, @09:29PM (1 child)
The funny thing is, I agree with many of your points. But while you blame the poorest people for the downfall, I look and see almost all gains from productivity over the last 50 years have been used to increase the wealth of a tiny number of people. So we could (a) launch WW3 to decimate the poor people to stop them scrounging from us or (b) admit we have gone down a dark path and change course. It's not like this shit doesn't happen, literally, all the time - see e.g. all of history.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12, @01:19AM
I think you mis-read him. He said net-negative tax payers, not poor people. Net-negative does include the poorest people, but that's just the cost of being civilized.
Net-negative tax payers also include people like Buffet, who pays effectively zero tax, but is a huge cost. If you include things like the cost of police to protect his wealth, the roads he uses to ship stuff around, the social infrastructure he uses but doesn't pay for, then he is subsidized to the tune of many billions per year. Just like everyone else in the very small club of the extreme rich.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Sunday February 12, @08:56AM
If your reasoning about lowest cost production were even remotely true, Africa would be teaming with American factories. There is a point, really, where you have to acknowledge that Marx merely was a guy with a funny beard trying to develop an all encompassing economic theory, in the 1800s, and not the second coming of Christ.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday February 17, @06:49PM
I'm not complaining about the truth or otherwise of your argument. Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong. But justifying your point of view by attacking the quality of your opponent's beard is lazy.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11, @10:46PM (4 children)
It would help me remember it if it really happened like you said, but like a lot of things attached to Trump's name by his propaganda network, it is all a sack of lies, whether it is taking credit for a factory that began construction in 2012, or taking credit for increased veteran's benefits that were enacted by Obama. In this particular case, you give him credit for a law that was passed in 1933. And if by "reversed," you must mean Executive Order 14005 which changed the 1933 law and increased the percentage of domestic product requirements. And by "quickly reversed," I assume you mean this all affects the future where it starts in March.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12, @01:29AM (2 children)
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/04/21/2017-08311/buy-american-and-hire-american [federalregister.gov]
Here you go.
Given the limits on Presidential authority it is just about as much as he could do force the government agencies to buy American. If you want more you need Congress to pass laws.
It's funny, straight talking and clear intent, it barely reads like a political document. That sort of thing is why many people supported him.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12, @02:06AM (1 child)
Wow. Modded troll for posting a link to a federal document that contradicts the lefty goodthink.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15, @02:42AM
We didn't think it was a troll either.
You just stepped on someone's pet narrative.
The best posts often do.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 12, @02:15AM
Here's the weasel paragraph from Biden's EO.
That means buy the cheapest. It weasels around the direct language in Trumps order to sound like it means buy American, but it doesn't. Now go read Trump's order in the sibling post to see a clear direction to buy American with no weaseling.
(Score: 2) by helel on Sunday February 12, @05:46AM
And who, if I might ask, are these "weird little neurotic men in funny hats"?
Republican Patriotism [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11, @04:39PM (5 children)
We can't stop illegal drugs. What makes them think they can stop a trade in something that's legal in other contexts. That's even harder. Of course there are probably a few points of friction where some Chinese corporation operating on US soil might conceivably feel the impact; but trying to keep legal products from straw purchasers is mostly a fools errand. At least attempting to do this with physical products is not quite as stupid as the 128-bit encryption export restriction from the late 90s. LOL, every time you downloaded Netscape they wanted you to input your name and location. They didn't even have Iraq on the list, so I'd use Baghdad, AL and I'd make up some silly middle-eastern sounding name. It always went through and completed the download.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Saturday February 11, @06:02PM (1 child)
Illegal drugs are much more expensive thanks to illegalisation (for good or ill).
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11, @06:31PM
As always, criminals benefit the most from prohibition and these political sanctions, it shuts down the competition.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11, @07:41PM
The US government knows sanction aren't 100% effective. Because they don't have to be. If they're even 50% effective, which is an incredibly low estimate, it will have massive impacts.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 11, @08:17PM (1 child)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 12, @05:28AM
A big factor which gets ignored here is that it also shouldn't hurt you badly. My take is that the US doesn't have adequate replacements for a lot of the economic value that China provides nor the political will to make that happen. For example, the steel industry, most power generation (renewable, nuclear, coal, etc), and a huge variety of consumer goods. My take is that historically we have significantly underestimated the harm from large scale tariffs and trade embargoes. This will likely be another example of that.