According to ijiwei, in March, semiconductor exhibition was held in Shanghai. Nikkei Asia reporters paid close attention to the whole process of the exhibition and visited many semiconductor enterprises participating in the exhibition.

 

According to the Nikkei Asia review on May 9, most of the seven major Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers responding to the interview said that these devices are mainly related to the production of 28-14nm chips, two or three generations behind the world's most advanced chip technology. They also mentioned that older devices are one of their main products.

 

Respondents believed that the US ban on China's semiconductor industry prevented them from purchasing spare parts and raw materials from overseas, while domestic substitutes for spare parts and raw materials would reduce the yield rate.

 

Source:Reuter's News Agency

 

An engineer from Shanghai microelectronics equipment (Group) Co., Ltd. (SMEE) said: "our mainstream photoresists are still mainly 90nm chips. We still have a lot of room to improve the yield of 28nm and 14nm processes." ASML, the world's largest maker of lithography, is planning to market products that can be used to make 3 nm and 2 nm chips.

 

"We are supplying 5nm devices, and most of them are related to 14nm and 28nm," said a researcher at AMEC AMEC's sales last year were 2.2 billion yuan (about $340 million).

 

In addition, Beijing Yitang semiconductor is also producing devices for 40nm and 28nm chips.

 

Nikkei Asia also contacted Shenyang Xinyuan micro and North Huachuang. At present, only AMEC has successfully developed products for 5nm cutting-edge technology. All other companies have said that they are producing products with 14 nm or more mature technology, but they have reached a consensus on domestic substitution.

 

Hangzhou Changchuan Technology Co., Ltd. revealed: "smart phones have relatively high requirements for chip technology, but there is still market demand for 120 nm chips."

 

The Nikkei Asia review pointed out that the US science and technology war against China has a wide impact on China's semiconductor industry.

 

"A limited import of a core component will have a huge negative impact on our product development," said an engineer at SMEE. Shenyang Xinyuan micro also believes: "in the past few years, it has become more difficult to import advanced technology from abroad, and we will have to find solutions through our own efforts."

 

The shortage of semiconductor parts, materials and manufacturing equipment has also affected the capacity of chip manufacturers. SMIC's 14nm and 28nm chips accounted for 5.0% of its sales from October to December 2020, down from 14.6% from July to September. IC insights predicted in January that China's semiconductor self-sufficiency rate will be 19.4% by 2025.