How Has China Been Countering US Sanctions?
In recent years, the US has been progressively restricting the ability of Chinese companies to purchase advanced chip making technologies in a concerted attempt to throttle the country’s indigenous semiconductor industry. However, systematic progress reports on new chip technologies suggest that China may have cracked the code on countering US sanctions. In fact, one could even argue that the ensuing restrictions on China’s chip access have provided the impetus for indigenous exploits in the chip sector.
China’s Progress in the Semiconductor Ecosystem
Chinese firms have achieved varied degrees of progress across the semiconductor ecosystem since the launch of Beijing’s Made in China 2025 plan in 2015. At this point, it is probable that China will break free from the US chokehold, in short order with its chip industry faring little worse. According to the Brookings Institution, Chinese businesses now account for 20 percent of the world’s fabless chip design houses and 10 percent of total global chip making capacity. According to Semiconductor Industry Association data, China’s nine percent share of global chip sales in 2020 places it ahead of Taiwan, and only behind the 10 percent held by both the EU and Japan.
Introduction
The Trump administration has prohibited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Samsung from producing sophisticated semiconductors for Chinese businesses on the entity lists such as Huawei. Last year, the Biden administration announced the high performance Computing chip. Exports from the US to China would require approval sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China that can be used to produce logic, chips at or below the 14 or 16 denominator. Technology, node dram chips with a half pitch less than or equal to 18 nanometers and nand chips with 128 or more layers would also require approval and all U.S citizens or permanent residents working for U.S companies would require approval.
Impact of US Restrictions on China
The US restrictions on high end computer chip, exports to China may hinder the latter’s technological advancement in advanced sectors, but it also eliminates all foreign rivals, leaving the equivalent market segment wide open to China’s domestic high end computer chip businesses. Prior to the restriction, it might have taken local enterprises at least 10 years to catch up and build a presence in the industry due to inferior technology. Chinese customers of high end computing chips now have little choice but to test drive homegrown chips, despite the fact that their quality and performance are far from cutting edge.
Accelerated Development of Domestic Chips
As a consequence, the time required by these local firms to produce competitive world class products might be cut by 30 to 50 percent. In other words, the US restriction on semiconductor technology compels Chinese chip users to hasten the process of substituting indigenous goods for imported ones.
Introduction
The Chinese government has implemented an import substitution program, which has resulted in the prohibition on the sale of lithography equipment. This has raised questions as to whether it entirely restricts Chinese Fabs from producing chips with nodes higher than 14 or 16 nanometers.
Multi Patterning
It is feasible to carve out a higher resolution circuit structure by exposing its ship several times using a lower resolution, photo lithography Machine by deconstructing, a Chips, physical architecture into numerous patterns and creating a distinct mask for each of them. This method was used to create seven denominator chips by Chinas semiconductor manufacturing International Corp last year. Although multi patterning is more expensive due to the use of multiple masks and has a lower yield rate, it is an acceptable compromise for domestic IC companies that require access to Advanced Technology, node fabrication processes, but have no other options.
Novel Chip Architectures
At the same time, Chinese IC design firms are attempting to build more novel chip, architectures and circuit designs that might allow chip capabilities previously only attainable with higher end manufacturing techniques using just lower end fabrication procedures. One such strategy is to use chiplet packaging technology to reduce communication, latency and power consumption between chips in a multi chip system. Consequently, increasing system or application performance and power consumption. That is, although a lower end manufacturing technique results in performance loss inside individual chips, directly linking processors as chiplets on a package compensates for such losses by accelerating data transfers between them.
BR 100 Chiplet Based Graphics Processor Chip
Shanghai bear in Tech, introduced the BR 100 chiplet based graphics, processor chip in August of Last year, claiming three times the performance of a similar product from a prominent us business.
Fiber Optic Breakthrough
Now, as Chinese military sector Engineers claim a crucial breakthrough in producing fiber optic.
China’s Missile Arsenal Set to Increase with Low Cost Gyroscope
China is set to increase its missile arsenal with the development of a low cost, fiber optic gyroscope that can be mass produced at a computer chip manufacturing plant. According to a study team lead by Mao Yushing, a senior engineer of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s Xian Flight Automatic Control Study Institute, this will accelerate the delivery of tactical missiles and other guided weapons to China’s military arsenal.
Graphene Chip Technologies
China has also been investing in graphene chip technologies. Roofing devices may operate at astronomically high rates of five zero zero one. Zero zero, zero gas graphene processors are 10 times quicker and more powerful than silicon circuits, but they are also more efficient and use less electricity.
Transition to Graphene Technology by 2025
China is committed to focusing on the development of semiconductor manufacturing technologies, less advanced than 14 nanometers, as well as ships created using such processes in the next years. The goal is for local semiconductor manufacturers to transition to graphene technology by 2025.
Successful 7M Chip Creation
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest contract chip maker, seemed to successfully create 7M chips last year. However, there are concerns about whether the production is economically viable.
Patent for Lithographic Technology
Huawei Technologies, which has been subject to the most stringent U.S sanctions, applied for a patent for lithographic technology late last year, which is important for developing sophisticated semiconductors.
Chinas Growth Plan Poses a Danger to Other Nations
Chinas growth plan is realistic and sustainable, but it poses a danger to Taiwan and other nations. This is because the methods used to create more than 90 percent of the worlds chips are being employed. The fear is that, once China has mastered the technology and business logic in this category, it will leverage the magnitude of its local market to acquire global domination, repeating the same process of market cleaning that occurred earlier in the solar panel LCD and lithium battery industries.
Chinas Ability to Transform Fledgling Sectors
Though China is currently living behind the world leaders in chip technology, it has demonstrated throughout time that it can transform fledgling sectors into juggernauts, whether in high speed rail, telecommunications, electric cars or social media.
U.S Penalties on Huawei
If U.S penalties on Huawei or any indicator Bidens chip controls are bound to fail. While the embargo appears to be onerous, it provides an impetus for Beijing to gather local technical know-how, raise hundreds of billions of dollars and build a supply chain to rocket an undervalued semiconductor ecosystem to new heights.
Chinas Advance
Alas, the new measures are too little too late to halt Chinas advance.
