- The global semiconductor industry is ushering in the fourth restructuring. What role will China play?
Since the 1980s, it has been influenced by factors such as geopolitics, industrial policies, and changes in manufacturing models. The global semiconductor industry ushered in the first great migration. The first was from America to Japan; Then, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, from Japan to South Korea and Taiwan; And from South Korea and Taiwan to the Chinese mainland in 2001.
At present, it is undergoing the fourth reorganization under the leadership of the United States, which is characterized by the United States’ attempt to establish another globalization system excluding China, and China is forced to start localization and independent innovation. There are two key points; First, it is difficult for China to build a forest alone, that is, China cannot rely on localization to build another semiconductor system, nor can it. The second is that China must still adhere to globalization and localization, and must be hard in both hands, relying on the three major advantages of the development of China’s semiconductor industry, a huge market and the whole industrial chain, the support of state capital and a unique nationwide system. Although the restructuring of the global industry is still dominated by the United States, its prestige is much less than before, and Chinese manufacturing may have to find a new balance point between globalization and localization. In this new stage, while pursuing supply chain diversification, Chinese enterprises will also pay more attention to independent innovation and technological upgrading. This is not only to cope with changes in the external environment, but also to occupy a more favorable position in the fierce international competition, and the industry should rely on rapidly improving its competitiveness and occupying the field as the main line.
- Bill Gates: Unlimited supply of chips to China can prevent China from developing on its own
Since the United States imposed a “chip ban” on China’s semiconductor industry, China’s chip industry has not been defeated, but has shown strong resilience and vigorous development.
Although the US ban has brought great challenges to China’s chip industry, it has also inspired the fighting spirit of Chinese enterprises and countries, prompting China’s chip industry to accelerate its development and embark on a road from “following” to “leading”.
Bill Gates advocates the unlimited supply of chips to China, and he believes that the restriction of chip supply by the United States will only force China to accelerate the development of its own chip industry, and ultimately make the United States lose the huge market of China. The speed of learning and innovation in the field of science and technology in China is extremely fast, and in the chip industry, there is both a large talent reserve and a huge market demand, and great potential for breakthroughs.
This view of Bill Gates reflects his fear of China’s innovation power. He is well aware of China’s development potential in the field of science and technology, and once the US chip ban is implemented, China is likely to focus on independent research and development, so as to achieve a breakthrough in the chip industry. From the perspective of global science and technology development, Gates’ views are also deeply insightful.
- SK Hynix suspends expansion in Wuxi
Market research firm Omdia and industry sources said on November 15 that SK Hynix’s planned expansion of capacity at its Wuxi plant in China has been halted, and will instead expand capacity at its Icheon M14 and Cheongju M16 plants in South Korea.
As of the first quarter of this year, SK Hynix’s Wuxi plant was producing 480,000 DRAM chips a season. Plans to expand DRAM capacity as demand recovers have been scrapped, and the Wuxi plant’s share of overall DRAM production will be cut from the original 40 per cent.
In addition, Samsung Electronics’ NAND flash memory plant in Xi ‘an will also significantly reduce production capacity. Samsung Electronics’ partners have also begun investing in Vietnam. Signetics, a South Korean sealed test company, plans to invest $100 million to build a factory in Vietnam’s Ha Shan industrial zone in Vinh Phuc province.
- 4nm BYD 9000 chip!
On Nov 12, BYD and Huawei jointly released the smart hard SUV – Equation Leopard 8, a total of four models, with a price range of 3798-407,800 yuan. As BYD’s 30th anniversary flagship, the Bao 8 is equipped with Huawei Qiankun Intelligent Drive ADS 3.0 high-class intelligent drive solution to achieve full-scene penetration and omnidirectional collision prevention capabilities. The cabin is equipped with a 4nm BYD 9000 chip, which integrates AI large-model technology to create a smart assistant.
Customized by BYD: 4nm BYD 9000 chip
According to the exposure information, BYD hand in hand with the head company custom, BYD 9000 chip is a strong performance, advanced functions of the car gauge level chip, in the intelligent cabin and other application scenarios have a good performance. The related performance of BYD 9000 chip is as follows:
- Process process: 4nm advanced process, which is the most advanced chip process technology at present, can integrate more transistors in a smaller chip area, thus achieving higher performance and lower power consumption.
- Architecture: Based on armv9 architecture, the architecture has good performance in performance, security and energy efficiency, and provides strong computing power support for the chip.
- Computing power performance: the CPU has strong computing power and high data processing capacity. Its Antutu running score is as high as 1.149 million ~ 1.15 million, which is a high level in the car movement, and can meet the needs of vehicle intelligent cockpit system for high-performance computing.
- Communication capability: It integrates 5G communication technology and has high-speed data transmission capability, which can provide fast and stable network connection for the intelligent network connection function of the vehicle.
- ST official announcement: 40nm MCU let Huahong foundry!
On November 21, 2024, the European chip manufacturer STMicroelectronics (ST) officially announced the establishment of a partnership with Huahong Hongli Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (Huahong Hongli) to jointly promote the foundry business of 40nm microcontroller units (MCUS) at the investor Day event held in Paris, France. The partnership aims to meet growing market demand while optimizing supply chain resilience and offering more competitive solutions to customers around the world.
As a leading global semiconductor manufacturer, ST has long held a significant position in the international market through innovative technologies and localization strategies. Huahong Hongli is one of the leading semiconductor foundry companies in China, and its extensive experience in 40nm process processes and localized production capabilities make it an ideal partner. The two companies are working together to build a localized, scalable manufacturing network to support the rapid growth of the Chinese market under the “China-for-China” strategy.
Breakthroughs and advantages of 40nm process technology.
ST’s 40nm technology integrates embedded non-volatile storage (eNVM) and high-performance analog design capabilities to meet the diverse needs of the automotive, industrial and consumer electronics sectors. Through this collaboration, ST’s technological strength combined with Huahong Hongli’s localized manufacturing capabilities not only improves product quality, but also optimizes cost structure, further enhancing competitiveness in the global market.
