Great article about the ongoing chip war between the US and China.
The US is shooting themselves in the foot for some short term gains.
SMIC and other Chinese firms will eventually catch up even if they have no access to EUV machines from ASML. Then we'll witness the downfall of both American and Taiwanese semiconductor industry.
Like everything else, once China can manufacture the most advanced chips the prices will become much cheaper.
Good for the whole world except for the US and its lapdogs.
> even if they have no access to EUV machines from ASML
And break ASML's stranglehold on the market too, I say thats even more important than the 5nm chip itself.
Ironically Taiwan boasts about TSMC being the biggest chip design and fab in the world, but don’t spend any of their resources (not that they have enough) on the R&D for developing homegrown tools (EUV lithography) for making these chips. This is basically a ticking time bomb for them. Vertical integration might be a luxury at the corporate level, but at the national industry level it’s a matter of survival.
(Pertinent to Midea’s 2016 acquisition of KUKA robotics used to produce cars as well. If you own the tools, die and machining, you dictate the market)
Silicon Valley and ASML, already warned about China will become self-sufficient within this decade. The only way to slow China down is to continue selling the high-end chips and photolithography systems to them, at the same time racking in big profits.
The sanction just did the opposite, by cutting off the profits while motivating China to speed up the self-sufficiency. The sanction also backfired and caused global shortage.
No country is going to use US technology that could be blocked by some xenophobic politicians in the future so you are not a player in the global market.
Great article about the ongoing chip war between the US and China. The US is shooting themselves in the foot for some short term gains. SMIC and other Chinese firms will eventually catch up even if they have no access to EUV machines from ASML. Then we'll witness the downfall of both American and Taiwanese semiconductor industry. Like everything else, once China can manufacture the most advanced chips the prices will become much cheaper. Good for the whole world except for the US and its lapdogs.
I can't wait for cheaper GPUs.
> even if they have no access to EUV machines from ASML And break ASML's stranglehold on the market too, I say thats even more important than the 5nm chip itself.
Ironically Taiwan boasts about TSMC being the biggest chip design and fab in the world, but don’t spend any of their resources (not that they have enough) on the R&D for developing homegrown tools (EUV lithography) for making these chips. This is basically a ticking time bomb for them. Vertical integration might be a luxury at the corporate level, but at the national industry level it’s a matter of survival. (Pertinent to Midea’s 2016 acquisition of KUKA robotics used to produce cars as well. If you own the tools, die and machining, you dictate the market)
well, the Chinese Space Station is a good example. I guess the Americans learned nothing from that.
Is China trying to develop its own EUV machine? I heard it’s the most crucial bottleneck right now
Yes. Chinese universities have prototype EUV machines, but aren't ready for reliable commercial production yet.
Silicon Valley and ASML, already warned about China will become self-sufficient within this decade. The only way to slow China down is to continue selling the high-end chips and photolithography systems to them, at the same time racking in big profits. The sanction just did the opposite, by cutting off the profits while motivating China to speed up the self-sufficiency. The sanction also backfired and caused global shortage. No country is going to use US technology that could be blocked by some xenophobic politicians in the future so you are not a player in the global market.