Shanghai-based SMIC used equipment from California-based Applied Materials and Lam Research to manufacture advanced 7-nanometer chips for Huawei in 2023, the people said. The person requested anonymity as the details are not public.
Previously unreported information suggests that China is still unable to fully replace certain foreign components and equipment needed for cutting-edge products such as semiconductors. The country has made technology self-sufficiency a national priority, and Huawei's efforts to promote domestic chip design and manufacturing are supported by the Chinese government.
Representatives for SMIC, Huawei, and Lam Communications did not respond to requests for comment. Applied and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, which is responsible for enforcing export controls, declined to comment.
Huawei's AI chip capabilities are under scrutiny as Nvidia names Huawei as a potential rival
Huawei's AI chip capabilities are under scrutiny as Nvidia names Huawei as a potential rival
Hailed in China as a major leap forward in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, SMIC-made processors powered Huawei's Mate 60 Pro last year and sparked a wave of patriotic smartphone purchases in the world's second-largest economy. The chip is still generations behind the world's top components, but ahead of where the United States had hoped to block China's advances.
However, the machinery used in its production still used foreign sources, including technology from Dutch manufacturer ASML Holding and equipment from Lam and Applied Materials. Bloomberg News reported in October that SMIC used ASML's equipment for its chip breakthrough.
Large Chinese chip equipment suppliers such as Advanced Micro-fabrication Equipment and Naura Technology Group are trying to catch up with their U.S. peers, but their products are not yet comprehensive or sophisticated. Shanghai Microelectronic Equipment Group, China's top lithography system developer, is still several generations behind industry leader ASML's capabilities.
SMIC acquired the U.S. machines before the U.S. banned such sales to China in October 2022, some people said. The companies were among U.S. suppliers that began poaching employees from China after those rules went into effect, banning U.S. technicians from servicing some machinery on the mainland.
ASML also directed its U.S. employees to stop doing business with Chinese customers in response to U.S. regulations, but Dutch and Japanese technicians still repair many machines in China. , much to the chagrin of its American rivals.
Companies are currently prohibited from selling cutting-edge technology from the United States to SMIC or Shenzhen-based Huawei. Both tech companies are on a U.S. blacklist for alleged ties to the Chinese military, and the U.S. government has generally tightened China's access to chip-making equipment and advanced semiconductors.
These trade restrictions have led Huawei and SMIC to pursue the path of building a domestic chip supply chain, and the Mate 60 Pro represents a remarkable step forward in that effort.
After Huawei unveiled new 5G smartphones, Washington launched an investigation into the company's processors, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo vowed to take the “strongest possible” action to ensure national security. . Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to completely cut off Huawei and SMIC's access to U.S. technology.
Commerce Department officials said they had not yet seen evidence that SMIC could manufacture 7nm chips “at scale,” a point echoed by ASML CEO Peter Wennink.
If SMIC wants to advance its technology without ASML's state-of-the-art extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system, technical challenges will prevent Chinese chipmakers from producing semiconductors in commercially meaningful quantities, Wennink said. told Bloomberg News. Late January.
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Biden's China high-tech policy goals: 10-year handicap
Biden's China high-tech policy goals: 10-year handicap
“Yields will kill you. You can't get the number of chips you need to mass produce chips,” he said. ASML is unable to sell EUV systems to China because the Dutch government has not issued a license allowing the export of EUV systems.
Meanwhile, the United States is pressuring its allies, including the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and Japan, to further tighten restrictions on access to Chinese semiconductor technology.
The initiative is controversial and has faced resistance in some countries because it imposes restrictions on trade as Chinese companies invest in equipment and computing power to compete in the artificial intelligence race.
Huawei may be China's most likely candidate to develop AI chips to compete with the United States. Jensen Huang, CEO of industry leader Nvidia, called the Shenzhen company a “formidable” rival in December.
