This ambition to escape dependence on foreign technology rests on the shoulders of Huawei and SMIC. The successful launch of the Kirin 9000S injected new vigor into the semiconductor industry, with executives reporting that chip start-ups are seeing a surge in funding.
But Huawei’s long-term ambitions are not limited to the markets in China’s orbit. The original nickname for the Kirin 9000S—Charlotte—is a symbol of these hopes. It was named not for an individual, but for the city in North Carolina. Other mobile semiconductors in development are also named internally for US cities, insiders say.
Using American names, says one Huawei employee, reflects “our desire to one day reclaim our place in the global supply chain.”
It’s amazing how without any official support and using cobbled-together outdated lithography machines, Huawei and SMIC have managed to make a reasonably competitive smartphone SoC. As I keep saying – Chinese chip makers have the full financial might of the Chinese state behind them, and they’ll stop at nothing to reduce their dependence on ASML, TSMC, Intel, AMD, and so on.
And they’re making progress.
“cobbled-together outdated lithography machines”
They can’t Buy the latest (or indeed previous gen) machines. But they
“cobbled-together outdated lithography machines”
They can’t Buy the latest (or indeed previous gen) machines from America. But they imported $2.58billion worth of machines from Holland alone in 2023. Who, as you are aware, are world leaders. There was a massive spike just before sanctions hit ofc.
Aren’t their phones Crap? They are overheating, not functioning properly and just low quality?
Not sure if flamebait, but their high-end Huawei P30 Pro phone was well received and they took the #2 spot in worldwide sales from Apple before the Trump administration blocked Huawei from the Play Store/GMS:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/01/huawei-beats-apple-smartphone-manufacturer-samsung-iphone
Folks, it’s electrical engineering, not magic. If someone throws Samsung money into developing their phones, they can get Galaxy S line levels of refinement and quality, the language the designers speak (Chinese vs Korean) is irrelevant. The only piece of “magic” is the OS, but that’s solved by Android and GMS (yes, not the second bit for Huawei’s case anymore, but it used to be true).
For the nitpickers: Electrical and thermal engineering.
… and they lived happily ever after.
“t’s amazing how without any official support and using cobbled-together outdated lithography machines, Huawei and SMIC have managed to make a reasonably competitive smartphone SoC. ”
And MASSIVE amounts of industrial espionage.
NaGERST,
I think we greatly underestimate them TBH, which is going to be our undoing.
Still, we have plenty of proof of spionage. A chip design company from Netherlands was being spied on for more than a year. Tell me that is not related at all with their improvements in chip making?
protomank,
While much of the cutting edge tech is owned/controlled by US companies, we’re all a bunch of hypocrites and if the situation were reversed do you honestly believe that US firms would not be spying on china to get a leg up? I don’t buy it. It’s human nature and our corporations are not above that.
https://techxplore.com/news/2022-05-apple-stealth-mode-startup-poached.html
The Chinese also keep on working on general purpose chips with the MIPS/Risc V based Longsoon processors. They’re getting decent performance nowadays and are built in France by ST micro.