As we all know, China is a chip consuming country, whether it is a mature process or advanced process, there is a big gap in the industry. Due to the early backwardness, Although the chip industry has developed at an amazing pace in recent years, there is still a considerable gap, and an important reason for this status quo is the lack of photolithography.
As a chip manufacturing link in the essential high-end equipment, without it is equivalent to the "paper", my country semiconductor industry giants naturally know this truth. So back in 2018, SMIC had ordered a state-of-the-art EUV lithography machine from ASML in the Netherlands.
But due to the restrictions imposed by Rice, the delivery of this high-end equipment has been delayed, which has left China's chip industry in a deep quagmire and unable to extricate itself. We are most familiar with Huawei, because of the lack of "high-end core" on the cell phone business is deteriorating, the loss of the previous leading position; And Semiconductor Manufacturing International in the 14nm process yields to catch up with the platform after Semiconductor Manufacturing International, not as scheduled to pass the 7nm related progress, a large part of the reason, but also the EUV The company's newest product is a new generation of photolithography, which will be available in the market in the near future.
Admittedly, ASML has also been on the surface of the Chinese market, making a "helpless" look, but for it, it is mainly coveted the huge market, once there are other choices, it will never take the risk to provide EUV lithography.
This is the latest news from ASML to build a lithography equipment remanufacturing plant in Korea and a training center for equipment operating engineers, which has been treated as a "backup option" for the Korean market.
At the same time, TSMC, Samsung and other chip giants have also given expression to the construction of advanced process production lines in the country to deal with the global "core shortage" situation. In the face of other giants in the industry chain, our "high-end core" where to go?
It is said that "the gun hits the head", Huawei's powerful destined to face this difficult situation, but even so, it still did not give up in the "high-end core" on the breakthrough.
Previously, Huawei executives have stated that as long as Huawei can afford, then Hesi will always exist. The implication is that, even in the layout of the basic chip industry chain at the same time, Huawei did not stop the development of high-end core because of the inability to produce.
Recently, it was announced that Huawei's 3nm chip is on its way, and it has applied for a trademark for its "Kirin" chip. In other good news, Huawei has given Hongmeng developers a board called Hi3861, which means it's a chip based on the RISC-V architecture, according to a report from FastTech.
It's worth noting that this chip is not applied to mobile terminals, but to help developers better build the Hongmeng ecosystem, which is also in response to the acquisition of ARM is facing by Nvidia, if the dust settles, ARM's open licensing services will not be damaged is not yet known, this chip can also be used in preparation for the
All this news seems to indicate that Huawei will stick to the path of self-research even if Hasselblad is no longer profitable, or at least not lag behind the world's most advanced level of chip design.
We all hope that Huawei's attitude is very determined to break through, but the reality is brutal, which makes Huawei look a little bit "sad".
Recently, Wu Hanming, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at the Fifth International Conference on Big Data Science and Engineering, talked about the EUV lithography is this way, This covers 100,000 parts, more than $ 100 million in cost of high-end equipment, the supplier alone has more than 5,000, which is the crystallization of the world, if you allow a country and region to do it is It's not realistic.
The academician's view is very objective and reasonable, but it's also like pouring cold water on Huawei's head, because it means that even if Huawei is able to make something of its design, it won't be able to do so because some of the technology used to make the photolithography machine comes from the United States.
Of course, the domestic community is also trying to find ways to overcome the lithography problem, including the development of quantum chips, carbon-based chips, and other attempts to bypass the EUV lithography, but ultimately it's very difficult, and it will take a lot of time.
From the current situation of all parties, we only have one way left, and that is to avoid rushing, based on the current development of basic processes.
Earlier the Chinese Academy of Sciences also said that the main domestic demand is still in the 55nm chip, in this process to realize the independence of the industry chain, more valuable than the development of high-end core.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has also slowed down its 7nm process because of lithography issues, choosing to spend $70 billion to focus on the development of the 28nm process. The current shift in Huawei's business center of gravity also illustrates this point, shifting from cell phone business to software and cloud services, which precisely illustrates that the "high-end core" problem cannot be solved in the short term.
I can't help but think of a phrase my mom used to say when I was a kid, which was "eat your food one bite at a time", and it's true that everything is a rush. The company's newest product is a new generation of Intel? Core? processors, which are now available in a wide range of colors and sizes.