China's top chipmaker SMIC just achieved an Intel-like breakthrough

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The company achieved the leap from 14-nm to 7-nm without the most advanced equipment due to U.S. curbs.

interestingengineering.com, Aug. 30, 2022 – 

U.S. sanctions intended to halt the rise of China's largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), didn't stand a chance against the company's technological progress. Despite being on the U.S. trade blacklist, complete with additional restrictions on the import of advanced equipment, SMIC has made a technological breakthrough that places it among industry giants, reported South China Morning Post.

Canada-based research firm TechInsights declared last month that SMIC had made the jump from the 14-nanometer to 7-nanometer process to produce semiconductors after inspecting a sample chip extracted from a cryptocurrency mining machine.

The firm's follow-up report now states that SMIC had indeed achieved "technological maturity," as measured by "standard cells" – the basic building blocks in logic chipset designs – that can rival the world's leading foundries, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), Samsung Electronics, and Intel.

This could lead to a true 7-nm process that integrates "scaled logic and memory bitcells." It could also help reduce China's reliance on Western technologies at a time of restricted access to advanced technologies available from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, Samsung, and other cutting-edge foundry service providers.

SMIC took only two years to reach 7-nm capability

Industry analysts are now keeping a close watch on SMIC, wanting to find out if the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies could halt China's goal to achieve semiconductor self-sufficiency, which has been a bone of contention between the two nations.

The White House had signed the bipartisan Chips and Science Act into law, primarily to deter TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and others from investing in advanced manufacturing, including 7-nm process technology in mainland China. Previously, the Trump administration had blacklisted SMIC on national security concerns, citing the company's ties with the Chinese military. The chipmaker denied the allegations.

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