core things (public account: aichip001)
compilation | ZeR0
editing | Moying
core things reported on August 1 that according to Bloomberg, the United States is tightening restrictions to prohibit US companies from exporting chip manufacturing equipment to China without permission.
People familiar with the matter said that over the past two weeks or so, all U.S. equipment manufacturers have received letters from the U.S. Department of Commerce asking them not to supply equipment to China for manufacturing 14nm or more advanced processes. It is reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce has rejected many 14nm licenses, so this change has little financial impact on the equipment vendors.
The report said that US chip manufacturing equipment suppliers Panlin Semiconductor (Lam Research) and KLA were both told about the new restrictions on China.
Before this, the U.S. government had banned companies from selling most devices that can make 10nm or more advanced chips to Chinese chip maker SMIC without permission. Compared with existing restrictions, the new regulations expand the scope of supply bans to 14nm and cover a wider range of semiconductor products in many industries, or affect more companies.
Although the new restrictions are mainly aimed at devices that can manufacture 14nm and more advanced chips, the production of mature chips may still be affected, because about 90% of the devices can be compatible with the previous generation. Semiconductor manufacturers can reuse devices when migrating to more complex nodes, which means banning a generation of devices, which can have long-term ripple effects.
Panlin Semiconductor CEO Tim Archer told analysts that the ban has been expanded to devices that can manufacture 14nm chips. The ban may not only involve SMIC, but also chip manufacturers operated by other chip foundry companies such as TSMC. According to its understanding, the new requirements are mainly aimed at the wafer foundry that manufactures logic chips, and do not include the memory chip manufacturing factory.
"We have recently received a notice that exports to China's fab technology for use under 14nm will be subject to a wider range of restrictions." Archer revealed on Wednesday's call. "I think that's what people have always thought might come, we are ready to comply with the U.S. government." Executives at
Panlin Semiconductor said they have included the impact of the U.S. demand in their performance forecast for the September quarter.
Kelei CEO Rick Wallace also confirmed Thursday that the company has received a notice from the U.S. government that the U.S. government has changed its licensing requirements for equipment exported to 14nm and more advanced chips to China. However, Kelei's business was not substantially affected.
According to Bloomberg, the United States is promoting cooperation countries such as Netherlands and Japan, and banning the global leader lithography machines, Asmay (ASML), and Nikon , which sell mainstream technology to China, and lithography machines are an indispensable key equipment for manufacturing advanced chips.
New restrictions may affect companies such as SMIC and TSMC that hope to develop relatively advanced chip production capacity in mainland China, and will also affect semiconductor equipment giants such as US Applied Materials , Netherlands Asmay and Japan Tokyo Electronics.
A spokesperson for Asmay said the company has not received any notice of the new regulations, and a Nikon spokesperson said its shipments to China were not affected.
This time the scope of export restrictions to China has been expanded to 14nm, which may be in line with the upcoming "Chip and Science Act" of the United States to respond to the so-called "major national security risks faced by the United States" and suppress China's efforts to produce advanced chips.
Just last week, the U.S. Senate passed a "Chip and Science Act" aimed at enhancing the U.S.'s advantages in chips and other fields. This bill, which has been in the long game for three years, will provide $52 billion in fiscal subsidies to incentivize local semiconductor manufacturing and research after signing it.
In response to this, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded at a regular press conference on July 28: "The so-called "Chip and Science Act" claims to be aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the US technology and chip industry, but the bill contains some provisions that restrict normal scientific and technological cooperation between China and the United States, and China firmly opposes this."
Zhao Lijian said: "How the United States develops itself is the United States' own business, but it should not set up obstacles for normal scientific and technological and cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States, and it should not deprive and damage China's legitimate development rights and interests. Sino-US scientific and technological cooperation is conducive to the common interests of both sides and the common progress of mankind. Prohibiting restrictive "decoupling" will only harm others and oneself. At the same time, China insists on putting national and national development at the basis of its own strength, and no restrictions and suppression can stop China's scientific and technological development and industrial progress. ”
US President Biden was originally scheduled to sign the bill this week, but because his new coronavirus test result was positive again, he needs to re-enter the quarantine, and the signing of the bill may be postponed.
Source: Bloomberg
