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China's SMIC Shipping 7nm Chips, Reportedly Copied TSMC's Tech (fake news?)

Why would SMIC not separate 28nm and 14nm? They separate all of the other nodes? Clearly SMIC is hiding something.

View attachment 843

Starting Q1 2022, SMIC stopped posting revenue analysis by process nodes. SMIC only reported revenue analysis by wafer size. It obviously doesn't make any sense.
 

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Starting Q1 2022, SMIC stopped posting revenue analysis by process nodes. SMIC only reported revenue analysis by wafer size. It obviously doesn't make any sense.

It is indeed very wired

But some people say SMIC is trying to keep a low profile because they don't want to draw "unnecessary attention" from the US gov. The US in theory banned sub-14nm equpment export to SMIC,but since many equpments can be used for both 14nm and 7nm,the export control isn't that strict at the moment. That's probably the reason why SMIC didn't publicly announce that they succeed 7nm process,rather they just ship the chip out quietly. Perhaps SMIC doesn't want to reveal their progress on report, just to avoid incite the US gov further and got more sanction impose on them in return.

Otherwise I cannot think of a good explaination why SMIC is doing this on quarterly report. I mean it's not like SMIC is trying hide bad earnings,they had pretty good earning in Q1
 
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Some inputs:
1. Most of current 7nm technologies use EUV in very few layers(3~5 out of 70-80 layers). TSM do provide non-EUV 7nm technology. IMO, new tapeouts will migrate to EUV for better yield and cycle time.
2. As commented by Dr. Burn Lin, it is achievable to pattern 5nm chips using DUV immersion tools. For China, the key is the 7/5nm chips availability. Cost will not be a concern.
3. As we remembered, a few months ago, there were chip shortage. Everyone was seeking and booking capacity immediately then. Even Samsung went to UMC(Taiwan) to order capacity. I would not be surprised US companies bought foundry capacity in China. It definitely includes Qualcomm, Broadcom and others.
4. As I remembered, SMIC did not use tech name like 10/7nm. They used something like N+1 and N+2 to make the name vague. It is clear for the reason.
 
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