US sanctions did not work: China now has equipment for 7nm chip production

Shanghai-based Micro Electronics Equipment Group has developed a lithography machine in China that can produce transistors for processors using a 7-nanometer process. Forbes reports this.

According to media reports, the Micro Electronics Equipment Group machine is comparable to the lithography equipment of the large Dutch company ASML and can now produce the advanced processors needed for smartphones, computers and the latest weapons. If this is true, China could catch up with Japan, the United States and the Netherlands in chip production.

The issue is always size, says Milton Ezrati, the publication’s economics and investment expert. The fewer transistors a machine can produce, the more it can fit on a chip. It was previously believed that China could not produce transistors smaller than 7 nanometers. However, after the introduction of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro smartphone, it turned out that Beijing has the most modern chips, although it has not yet reached the 3 or 2 nanometer technologies that Japan and the Netherlands have. But 7-nanometer processors are quite sufficient for all modern tasks in the production of high-tech equipment in any field.

The Forbes expert has two unanswered questions. First of all, this is a comparison of the new Chinese lithography machine with the existing equipment from the USA, Japan and the Netherlands, which have a monopoly in this field and do not sell their equipment to anyone, without which it is impossible to develop processors. The second question is how quickly the Chinese can use this breakthrough to accelerate the development of advanced chips. If the answer to these two questions involves many costs and nuances, then China’s breakthrough will be delayed until it can make a difference in the Sino-US chip war.

If China somehow managed to obtain or create its own lithographic equipment for the development of processors, this will be a good lesson for economic and diplomatic strategists of all countries and will show that it is difficult to keep someone under sanctions in the modern world. the expert has believed this for a long time. According to Milton Ezrati, the management of the Dutch company ASML absolutely correctly predicted that China would sooner or later be able to obtain lithographic technologies for modern processors.

Ezrati said China appears to have won another round in the technology war with the United States. China found a way around the bans initiated by America, and it was only a matter of time. But no one could have predicted that Beijing would be able to catch up so quickly with the United States and Europe in lithography equipment.

Previously Focus MediaTek and TSMC announced a revolutionary mobile processor. They pioneered 3nm technology by increasing productivity by 18%.