Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The recent escalation of tensions between the United States (US) and China has led to a cold war in the technology sector.
The US continues to try to limit China’s access to important technologies, especially semiconductor chips.
However, despite all the sanctions, China always seems to find a way. As happened with Huawei, they were able to launch the 7nm Kirin 9000S chip made by SMIC.
According to industry insiders, US efforts to hinder China’s technological progress by launching a total blockade will be futile. Burn J. Lin, former vice president of TSMC, claims that the US cannot stop China’s growth in chip manufacturing.
The crux of this cold war lies in Huawei’s latest Mate 60 Pro phone. The reason is, Huawei, which is subject to US sanctions, cannot get the latest chips from companies like TSMC or Samsung.
Although the US ultimately allowed Huawei to use Qualcomm’s non-5G Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, by then, the company had already begun working with SMIC to improve its chip manufacturing capabilities.
However, when Huawei launched the Mate 60 Pro, it immediately made headlines because it featured a 7nm chip that could also access all 5G bands in the country.
This confused American officials because, under the restrictions, SMIC could not work with American companies.
If the company does produce such chips, it can only do so using lithography machines made by ASML.
While this development may result in more restrictions, there is currently debate as some argue that SMIC has dual 14nm chips.
While others argue that TSMC produced these chips for Huawei before the restrictions in 2020.
SMIC uses machines to make 7nm chips
According to Lin, SMIC can maximize the capabilities of existing ASML machines to produce Kirin 9000S chips, as quoted from Android HeadlinesTuesday (31/10/2023).
Apart from that, he also thinks that the company can further improve these machines to produce 5nm chips. Thus significantly improving chip performance and energy efficiency.
However, it is important to note that the recent incident involving ASML’s theft of intellectual property related to chip manufacturing machines may have some bearing on this development.
According to Lin, instead of trying to contain China, the US should focus on maintaining leadership in chip design and building manufacturing processes to further strengthen its dominance.
“It is impossible for the US to completely prevent China from improving its chip technology.” he explained.
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