Xie Zhifeng, the speaker of "Chip Revealed·Big Guys Talk about Chips"
Big Guys Talk about Chips
Fantasy Reality Talks
Since the broadcast, we have often received questions from listeners. In this issue of Chip Revealed, Dr. Xie Zhifeng, the speaker, will address some of them A few hot topics and his thoughts.
The following content is organized by the dialogue audio
The topic of this issue
● SMIC hot event analysis
● A brief discussion of the suspension of construction of Wuhan Hongxin
● How much do you know about the transformation of lithography machines?
SMIC hot event analysis
Dong Xiang/Wangzhengqing (listener)
Dr. Xie, SMIC is currently in a leading position in domestic chip manufacturing. Previously, Dr. Liang first issued a resignation statement, and then was included in the entity list by the United States. If the United States suppresses SMIC in the same way it suppresses and Huawei , what impact will it have on SMIC? How should it develop in the future?
Xie Zhifeng (speaker)
This is a sensitive topic. As outsiders, we actually have no way of knowing many details and inside stories. Based on my understanding, I believe that any company will have ups and downs in its development process, including the departure or joining of personnel, and it will also be affected by some political factors (being included in the entity list by the United States). It can be known from the latest US policy towards SMIC that 10nm or more advanced process technologies will be restricted, and the impact from 14nm to more mature technologies should not be significant.
SMIC has been officially included in the Entity List (Source: U.S. Department of Commerce official website)
Regarding the future development of SMIC, I think we need to pay attention to two aspects:
First, external factors, Sino-US technology war will How it develops directly determines SMIC's future development path.
On January 20th, the new President of the United States Biden came to power. Based on my past understanding of President Biden, I think he has the intention to regard China as a competitor, and will definitely find ways to restrict China's development, so the United States Restrictions on China will continue. But the difference between Biden and Trump is that he will formulate some clear regulations and strategies in advance, rather than being as unpredictable as Trump. According to these clear regulations and restrictions, we can make corresponding deployments and adjustments in advance to deal with them.
The second is internal factors. Dr. Liang is a very excellent R&D talent and has made great contributions to SMIC in terms of technology. If he really leaves in the end, it will be a big loss for SMIC, The retention and departure of core members will also affect the operation of the company..
Editor's note: On December 31, 2020, SMIC announced the latest list of directors. Dr. Liang Mengsong still serves as SMIC's co-CEO. Currently, members of SMIC’s board of directors include Chairman Zhou Zixue, Vice Chairman Jiang Shangyi, Co-CEOs Zhao Haijun and Liang Mengsong, Chief Financial Officer Gao Yonggang, non-executive directors Chen Shanzhi, Zhou Jie, Ren Kai, Lu Jun, Tong Guohua, as well as independent non-executive directors William Tudor Brown, Liu Zunyi, Fan Renda, Yang Guanglei.
SMIC's research and development road will continue to go down. Although there are many difficulties in catching up with the world's advanced level, SMIC still has great achievements in many relatively mature process technologies, and now the orders have been Demand exceeds supply.
In general, SMIC has experienced many difficulties from its establishment in 2000 to 2020, but has also come out of the predicament step by step, and will unswervingly move forward in the future.
Dr. Xie Zhifeng's 2020 nuclear "core" event inventory
A brief discussion of the suspension of construction of Wuhan Hongxin
Hanqiuyu_69 (Listener)
Dr. Xie, can you talk about the suspension of construction of Wuhan Hongxin?
Xie Zhifeng (speaker)
Wuhan Hongxin Semiconductor is a semiconductor company established less than 3 years ago. It claims to have independent research and development technology for 14 nanometer logic processes. It also spent a lot of money to invite the legendary figure in the chip industry Jiang Shangyi to serve as CEO. However, the factory construction process Due to the funding gap, the project was suspended. This phenomenon is actually not uncommon across the country, and the government has also begun to pay attention to related issues such as " unfinished semiconductor buildings ".
The unfinished Hongxin factory (Source: China Business News)
First of all, I think it is very difficult to build and operate an integrated circuit manufacturing plant, and the following four conditions need to be met.
First, we need a complete technical team;
Second, we need a large amount of financial support, not only funds to build factories, but also funds to invest in building new factories and expanding factories in the future;
Third, we need There is a long-term and profound accumulation of technology. Whether it is authorized by other companies or research units, or it is developed by oneself, it needs to be accumulated.
Fourth, when the three elements of time, money, and technology are available, macro issues such as product direction and market direction need to be considered.
These elements are indispensable. Many companies already have problems in terms of funding, not to mention hidden problems in team, technology, market and other aspects. Therefore, this phenomenon will continue to appear in the future. Companies that are not fully prepared will succeed. The chances are slim.
photolithography machine modification, how much do you know?
oo_w3 (listening friend)
Mr. Xie, why are there still process gaps in the products produced by photolithography machines purchased from the same company?
Xie Zhifeng (speaker)
This question is a good one. Lithography machine technology is currently one of the most cutting-edge technologies in the world, and is only in the hands of a small number of countries. Currently, the world's most cutting-edge lithography machines are produced and supplied by a Dutch company, ASML.
ASML lithography machine internal diagram (Source: Baidu Encyclopedia)
In fact, every company will make its own adjustment and modification after buying the lithography machine. This is a common phenomenon. Such as TSMC, Intel , Samsung ... They are all modifying. Each company has its own unique at the bottom of the box. If SMIC can buy EUV lithography machines in the future, it will also make some adjustments.
Huanshishuo
Chip Revealed while disseminating cutting-edge information on industry development, it also analyzes the changes brought about by technology; by bringing together the innovative perspectives of each sharing guest, it jointly promotes social recognition and large-scale application of new technologies and new trends, and also calls for more More and more people are joining the chip industry to contribute.
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