Is Huawei’s latest chip proof of China’s technological lag?
According to the US administration, the seven-nanometer chip contained in Huawei's latest smartphone shows that China is lagging behind the United States. TSMC invests in two-nanometer semiconductors on American soil, while the government prepares new trade restrictions. All the details
According to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo (pictured), Huawei's latest smartphone – the Mate 60 Pro, which contained a locally produced seven-nanometer chip and which had caused a stir – demonstrates that China is still behind in advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies.
Raimondo, in short, has turned the question on its head: the infamous microchip used by Huawei and manufactured by SMIC is not proof that Beijing is reducing the gap in chipmaking and circumventing American trade restrictions; on the contrary, that very chip would demonstrate both China's delay and the effectiveness of the export controls imposed by Washington to prevent its rival from accessing new technologies.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE HUAWEI CHIP?
The microchip in Huawei's Mate 60 Pro made noise last summer because Chinese companies were not believed to be capable of producing components measuring seven nanometers. Simply put: the smaller the size, the more powerful and efficient the chip. However, seven nanometers is not the most advanced technology for microchips in smartphones: Apple iPhones, for example, contain four nanometer components.
In theory, neither Huawei nor SMIC should have access to technologies to produce seven-nanometer chips due to restrictions that the United States has imposed on the two companies since 2019 and 2020, respectively.
CHINA “IS YEARS BEHIND” THE UNITED STATES, SAYS RAIMONDO
Interviewed by CBS News, Secretary Raimondo said that on microchips – crucial components for industrial, economic and military development – China "is years behind" compared to the United States, which possesses "the most sophisticated semiconductors in the world. China does not. We have surpassed China in innovation."
The United States holds international leadership in the design phase of semiconductors and is investing in recovering manufacturing capacity. The Taiwanese company TSMC, the most important company in the world in this market segment, recently increased its investments in America, bringing them to 65 billion dollars, to produce two nanometer chips: this is the most advanced technology at the moment.
THE AMERICAN RESTRICTIONS AGAINST CHINA AND RUSSIA
The United States, in collaboration with the Netherlands and Japan, two countries very relevant in advanced chipmaking technologies, have introduced restrictions on the export of cutting-edge components and machinery to China.
These controls on semiconductor trade have also been applied to Russia, to deprive the country of components that can be used in military equipment. In this regard, Raimondo said that the US restrictions were successful because they forced the Russians to have to fall back on recovering semiconductors from household appliances, “damaging their ability to wage war, making it more difficult”.
WILL SOUTH KOREA AND GERMANY PARTICIPATE IN AMERICAN CHIP CONTROLS?
Raimondo's Commerce Department is trying to convince the Netherlands and Japan to tighten chip export controls to China. Furthermore, Washington is also pressuring South Korea and Germany to participate in these trade restrictions, so as to further limit Beijing's ability to access foreign technologies and slow down their industrial development.
As Bloomberg summarizes, the Commerce Department is tasked with providing grants and loans worth more than $100 billion to companies that decide to invest in semiconductor production in the United States. After aid to Intel , TSMC and Samsung, it seems that this week the US government will announce a subsidy to Micron .
Since the beginning of Joe Biden's mandate, the public stimulus plan for domestic chip manufacturing – the CHIPS and Science Act – has encouraged private investments in the United States of over 200 billion dollars.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/stati-uniti-cina-divario-tecnologico-chip/ on Mon, 22 Apr 2024 09:30:27 +0000.