It takes a long time for chips to be made in China
She Huimin
Recently, the global "chip shortage" has made "China Chip" once again the focus of people's attention.
The news that "domestic 14-nanometer chips will be mass-produced next year" made many netizens cheered; then, the news that "Samsung announced that 3 nanometer GAA chips have been officially taped out" made many netizens worry, saying that "the gap is too big. How can this be neat"?
In fact, since the US issued a chip ban on some Chinese companies in 2018, "chip" has become synonymous with "stuck neck" technology.
China has started from various directions such as personnel training, industrial chain complementation, and core technology breakthroughs, and comprehensively deploys domestic chip research and development.
Judging from the current progress in the localization of chip technology, the blindly optimistic "quick victory theory" is not desirable, and the pessimistic and disappointed "failure theory" is obviously wrong. The manufacturing of "China Chips" still needs to maintain a steady and stable mentality; Work for a long time.
Let me talk about why the "quick victory theory" is wrong.
Take the news that "domestic 14-nanometer chips will be mass-produced next year" as an example. The news has actually been misunderstood by many netizens too optimistically.
The "domestic production" mentioned by experts in the news only refers to the local design, manufacturing and packaging.
The "domestic production" in the eyes of netizens is the whole industry chain that is not "stuck" at all. This requires the use of domestic frameworks and design tool software in the design, and the use of domestic equipment and raw materials in the manufacturing.
From the perspective of the raw materials and design of the chip industry chain, the raw materials are still controlled by the United States, Germany, and Japan, and the design tool software is still dominated by American manufacturers.
From the perspective of core chip production equipment, the gap is even greater.
The semiconductor industry has high technology and rapid progress. A generation of products requires a generation of technology, and a generation of technology requires a generation of equipment. However, my country lacks key core equipment in the industrial chain.
For example, EUV lithography machines are extremely sophisticated and complex. Only the Dutch giant ASML can produce them in the world. There are more than 100,000 parts and suppliers in more than 5,000 merchants around the world.
The lithography machine is only one of the key nodes on the chip production line. On the chip production line, there are still many important semiconductor equipment that we need to conquer one by one.
There are a lot of "absences", can we make it up?
Some people see that the difficulties are too great, and they have developed a "failure theory" of losing confidence, which is obviously not desirable.
On the one hand, it has been very effective to "make up for shortcomings".
For example, the development of 14-nanometer chips in China has overcome many technical problems: key equipment such as etching machines and thin-film deposition have been developed from scratch and entered batch applications; the subsequent packaging and integration technology achievements have been fully realized in mass production; polishing agents and sputtering targets Hundreds of key materials have passed the assessment of large production lines and entered mass sales.
These achievements have reversed the passive situation that my country's integrated circuit technology needs to be introduced in a complete set.
On the other hand, "forging long plates" is also proceeding in an orderly manner.
China has a world-class market, which is the best cradle for polishing products and cultivating world-class chips.
The development of the chip industry can target the industry's cutting-edge technology, combining high-end design, manufacturing, equipment, and material supply with the current advantages of my country's 5G, artificial intelligence and other new technology applications, and try to overtake in corners.
In addition, the chip industry is at the point where traditional chips and new chips are handed over, and will usher in a "shuffle" of disruptive new technologies. my country is also strengthening the research and development of new chips such as graphene chips and diamond chips-the use of these new chips. New materials are manufactured, and our country already has relevant scientific research foundations. If breakthroughs in industrial applications are achieved in the future, a new track will be opened up.
The road to innovation in the chip field is long and hindered, but the prospects are bright. As long as we maintain the tenacity of "for a long time", "China Chip" will surely win the final victory.
She Huimin