Tsmc, Smic and more. How is the US war on Chinese chip companies progressing?
All the latest news – and the unknowns – in the furious US offensive against China's chip companies like Smic and Tsmc
The Chinese tech giants, as we know, want to rival those of the US and aim to dominate entire areas of the world,
And it is precisely this that the Trump administration intended to hinder when the Commerce Department issued bans and sanctions that starting exactly from today will completely preclude Chinese industries from using US-made technology to make their own jewels.
WITHOUT SEMICONDUCTORS USA IT DOESN'T MAKE A LOT OF SENSE TO HAVE TOP MANUFACTURERS LIKE HUAWEI
As Dan Wang, a technology analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, explained to CNBC , “Without semiconductors (USA), China cannot be a significant technological power, and it makes little sense to have large companies like Huawei that are unable to maintain operations because the China has no substantial capacity to manufacture semiconductors ",
The provisions of the US Department of Commerce that deny the possibility of conducting business with Chinese companies without a special license therefore risk inflicting a deadly blow to China if it does not proceed to become autonomous as soon as possible.
US GOVERNMENT IS THINKING TO TARGET EVEN THE LARGEST CHINESE CHIPS MANUFACTURER
After targeting the Taiwanese TSMC , which produces chipsets for Huawei, to prevent it from supplying chipsets to Hisilicon, the company that supplies components to Huawei, now the US government is thinking of delivering the coup de grace by including in the "Entity List" also Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), the largest Chinese chip maker .
The task facing China is therefore very clear. If it is to survive its leading industries, it must completely set up the supply chain and its facilities.
IF CHINA WANTS TO SURVIVE ITS LEADING INDUSTRIES, IT MUST SET ITS SUPPLY CHAIN NOW
In this regard, Reuters some time ago reported the news of the pressure made by America on the Netherlands not to make available to the Chinese a particular machine, used by companies such as ASML, which uses ultraviolet rays in the production process of the most advanced chips. existing in the world today, just like those made by Samsung or TSMC.
These signs suggest a future fraught with difficulties for China, according to Wang, for which "if the United States can completely eliminate the possibility for Chinese companies to have the most advanced tools, then China (…) will have need to have access to the rest of the industrial process (at home) in order to make further progress ”.
But the death sentence for the Chinese hi-tech industry has not yet been written. On the contrary, CNBC predicts that Beijing will soon have the necessary skills, if not to rival the US giants, at least to satiate the domestic market.
CHINA TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE ENORMOUS DIMENSIONS OF ITS INTERNAL MARKET
Indeed, the size of the Chinese domestic market, with hundreds of millions of consumers and a disproportionate number of devices in circulation, is the best guarantee that Beijing will be able to keep up with the times if only.
Sze Ho Ng, an analyst at the Renaissance investment bank, actually sees a future for the Chinese semiconductor industry dictated by US closures. "China is a huge market… so serving it alone provides plenty of opportunities for local sellers as up to it (the technology) comes largely from overseas."
A river of work, therefore, which will see Chinese chip companies engage in the challenge of the moment; giving life to the so-called “internet of things” by building an incalculable number of chipsets with which to regulate everything, from air traffic to hospitals.
ANOTHER ADVANTAGE FOR CHINA IS THAT IN ORDER TO MAKE THE "IOT" WORK, SEMICONDUCTORS ARE NOT NECESSARY TO THE ULTIMATE CRY.
The positive side of the thing, notes CNBC , is that the chips essential for operations of this kind do not necessarily have to be the most advanced, and it is therefore here that Beijing can find a prairie in front of it.
As Wang explains, "a lot of these things don't need to be cutting edge, iPhone style to be clear (….) Less advanced technology may be enough, and that's where Chinese companies come in."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/tsmc-smic-e-non-solo-come-procede-la-guerra-usa-ai-chip-delle-societa-cinesi/ on Tue, 15 Sep 2020 06:09:46 +0000.