Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) recently said it would have to delay the start of mass production at its fab near Beijing by a quarter or two quarters “due to bottleneck equipment delays.”this is the first announcement This sort of thing happened after the US imposed broad sanctions on China’s semiconductor sector last October. However, the delay may not be due to a shortage of American-made tools, but to delayed Chinese-made tools.
Following the U.S. government crackdown on SMIC’s efforts to build chips using the 10nm-class production node and thinner ones, China’s major foundries are lining up in Beijing (Jingcheng), Shanghai (Lingang) and Shenzhen (Shenzhen). The company has announced plans to build four major 28nm 300mm fabs nearby. ), and Tianjin (Xiqing) to meet global and local needs for mature production capacity. Jingcheng, Lingang and Xiqing are all projected to be giga fabs with a capacity of at least 100,000 300 mm wafer starts per month (WSPM) when fully ramped up in the next few years.
By the end of 2022, production began in a relatively small fab near Shenzhen, construction of the Shanghai fab building was completed, and the company began construction on a fab near Tianjin. However, while the Jingcheng fab near Beijing has begun pilot production, mass production at this facility has been postponed. computer based.
It is unclear if the delay has anything to do with the latest US export regulations. Manufacturers of advanced wafer fab equipment (WFE) in the US must obtain an export license from the US Department of Commerce to sell tools that can be used to manufacture logic chips. Non-planar transistors below the 14nm/16nm node, but this is certainly a possibility. After all, modern tools that can be used to make 14nm chips can also be used to make 28nm chips. In most cases, they lead to increased productivity and make SMIC’s fabs more competitive. But the latest US export controls may have nothing to do with SMIC’s Jingcheng fab delays, at least directly.
One of the goals SMIC set for Gigafab was to use as many homegrown tools as possible.analysts from China Renaissance Securities We estimate that the fab could use 30% to 40% of tools made by Chinese companies, such as: AMEC, king cicada again Nowra.
“SMIC Jincheng is now in pilot production and attracting customers for line qualification,” China Renaissance analyst Szeho Ng wrote in a note to customers. “Our research shows that SMIC Jincheng aims for 30-40% of his domestic tool procurement. We still hold the view that US technology export restrictions are limited to the FinFET sector.”
Currently all orders are being placed due to the inability of Chinese wafer fab equipment manufacturers to obtain technology from the United States without proper export licenses and the inability of some engineers with US citizenship to provide services without US government authorization. I don’t know if it can handle .
SMIC has not determined whether the latest US export restrictions will have an impact.
Ability to equip fabs, or Chinese suppliers delay tools. For now, the company remains committed to spending about $6.35 billion on manufacturing capacity, so the chip contract maker fully expects to finish building and outfitting every fab project it owns. I’m here.
