Some time ago, TrendForce Information released the ranking of global chip foundry companies in the second quarter of 2021. TSMC ranked first with a share of 52.9%, while the strongest SMIC ranked fifth with a share of 5.3%, and its revenue is almost one-tenth of TSMC.
. In terms of technology, TSMC has entered 5nm and 3nm next year. SMIC has entered 14nm in 2019, with three generations of 10nm, 7nm and 5nm separated by three generations. The technology difference is at least 5 years.
In fact, in the early days, the gap between SMIC was not so big. The closest technical gap between the two sides should be around 2004.
In 2004, SMIC was able to mass-produce 110-nanometer chips, while TSMC was 90-nanometer at that time. The two were only one year's technological gap at one time. SMIC seemed to be likely to catch up with TSMC at any time, which once made TSMC nervous. So why did the gap between the two sides become bigger and bigger?
In fact, it is precisely because of the small gap between SMIC and TSMC that TSMC sued SMIC twice from 2003 to 2006, directly pointing to the Taiwan team led by Zhang Rujing at that time, saying that they infringed TSMC's technical patents and stole trade secrets.
In the end, SMIC lost the case. lost 200 million US dollars in cash and 10% equity . Zhang Rujing also left SMIC, which was a huge blow to SMIC.
After Zhang Rujing left, Wang Ningguo, CEO of HUANG Group, was airborne to take over as CEO. However, between his term of office, SMIC had a power struggle involving shareholders, causing serious talent loss and technical gaps. Wang Ningguo, who had only 9 months in office, stepped down, which had a great impact on SMIC, which was already in a turbulent position.
Later, although Qiu Ciyun took over as CEO of Wang Ningguo and also carried out a lot of reforms. After five years of his tenure, SMIC's revenue increased by nearly 130%, it has to be said that the gap with TSMC has also become larger and larger during this period.
At the same time, during this period, because chips are becoming more and more important in the technology industry, the United States also attaches more and more importance to the chip industry, so it has imposed a blockade in the chip field, such as restricting the flow of high-end equipment, high-end technology, high-end materials, talents, etc. into China.
So this gap can no longer be narrowed, resulting in the difference between now more than 3 generations, and devices below 10nm are now limited. I don’t know how long it will take to catch up with TSMC.
