When the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) restricted access of China’s largest contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) to fab equipment used to make10nm-class chips, it was considered a tough but not too severe move. Now the U.S. government is mulling restricting China from producing logic chips using a 14nm-class fabrication process. The DOC is…
At processor manufacturers, fundamental and applied research and development work never stops, so now that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has outlined a timeline for its N2 (2 nm-class) fabrication process that will enter high-volume manufacturing (HVM) in 2025, it is time for the company to start thinking about a succeeding node. If a new rumor…
Chinese chipmakers and chip designers at present are focused primarily on mature high-volume process technologies in a bid to support local makers of automobiles, consumer electronics, smartphones, and Internet-of-Things. Yet the country officials believe that next year local makers of semiconductors will begin to ramp up fabrication of chips using 14 nm and more advanced…