“I get great results About 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War:
That quote is so old that it has now become a proverb. But the U.S. doesn’t seem content to bet that small actions can achieve the broad impact needed to gain an edge over China in developing AI and machine learning technologies.
After implementing drastic restrictions on semiconductor exports to China last October, recent agreements between the United States and Japan and the Netherlands limit the export of critical semiconductor components and chip-making technology to China. is disrupting the $600 billion global semiconductor industry.
Given that China accounts for about 80% of the world’s electronics production and is a major consumer of semiconductors, the impact of these restrictions is far-reaching. To further complicate matters, almost all major semiconductor manufacturers have customers in China.
But Washington doesn’t seem to care about the concerns of global chipmakers or the short-term instability of supply chains. China is looking to the future and wants to contain its ability to develop and access AI technology while diversifying its increasingly important sources of semiconductors.
According to Josep Bori, research director at GlobalData, the aggressive move by the United States is expected to lead to “the dominance of AI underpinning what many call the Fifth Industrial Revolution, and ultimately the global economy for decades to come.” leadership”.
A recent deal with Japan and the Netherlands includes “the export of conventional deep ultraviolet (DUV) machines and the prevention of fully advanced AI chips,” which will help China’s semiconductor business and beyond just hardware. Boli said it is targeting China’s ability to develop AI technology.
You can’t make pancakes without a frying pan
As you can see, China makes a lot of different semiconductors, but lacks some of the advanced equipment needed to produce the fastest processors, chips, and memory storage devices.
Taiwanese manufacturers import many chips and equipment from companies around the world, including Taiwan’s TSMC. Intel, Nvidia, AMD in the US. South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung. ASML Holdings of the Netherlands. And Japan’s Nikon and Tokyo Electron.
To some extent, this means that Chinese manufacturers such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) rely heavily on the global semiconductor industry for the machines that make high-end chips.
According to Bori, many high-end logic and memory chips are manufactured using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines.
“Initially, [U.S.’ export] The ban on China only affected EUV machines used for cutting edge process nodes such as 3nm, 5nm and 7nm,” said Bori.
This has influenced the US strategy of slowing the progress of Chinese companies in AI, machine learning and other cutting-edge technologies. Basically, the smaller the distance between each transistor, the faster and more power efficient the chip. The smallest process nodes such as 3 nm, 5 nm and 7 nm are used in the development of artificial intelligence systems, smartphones, cloud data centers, self-driving cars and even military applications.
But the January agreement covers older DUV machines that allow Chinese manufacturers to make not just 14-nm chips, but 18-nm DRAM chips and NAND flash chips with more than 128 layers, Boli added. rice field. DUV machines can be used to make chips at 14-nanometer, 28-nanometer, and higher process nodes. Such chips are commonly used in automobiles, industrial equipment, and consumer electronics.
