The USA dealt a new blow to China by disrupting chip production: Xi Jinping reacted

The US is asking Dutch company ASML not to service semiconductor chip manufacturing equipment supplied to China. However, according to Tom’s hardware report, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that his country will continue to improve its technologies.

Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez said the White House is currently in discussions with allied countries about the possibility of ending service on key components, meaning ASML lithography equipment that China uses to make advanced chips. Bloomberg also emphasized that the supply of small components that Chinese engineers can build themselves will not be limited.

There has already been a reaction from China. Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping directly told Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a recent meeting that he will continue to support technological progress in his country no matter what. The debate comes as the United States imposes export controls on Dutch advanced chip-making tools in line with efforts to limit China’s access to advanced technology over national security concerns, the Associated Press reported.

Xi Jinping said, “Chinese people also have the legitimate right to development, and no power can stop China’s pace of scientific and technological development and progress.” said.

The Netherlands’ decision to introduce an export license for ASML’s lithography equipment, which can be used to make logic chips using 14nm and beyond, is important for Chinese semiconductor manufacturers such as SMIC and YMTC. SMIC recently partnered with Huawei to produce smartphone processors on the 7nm process using ASML’s advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography tools. Both companies are reportedly working on producing 5nm-class chips using these machines.

Rising tensions between the US and China over access to technology have led China to accuse the US of impeding its economic development. The United States does not want China to have access to high-performance processors that could be used for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications because powerful supercomputers could be used to create weapons of mass destruction as well as enhance China’s military capabilities. That’s why US companies like AMD, Intel and Nvidia can no longer sell their latest products to Chinese businesses without a US government export license.

Important

For the same reasons, the USA does not want China to produce its own artificial intelligence and high-performance computer processors. To achieve this, the US banned US companies from selling advanced wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) to Chinese facilities and managed to persuade Japan, the Netherlands and Taiwan to do the same; This clearly upset China.

The PRC urgently needs advanced domestic lithography equipment that will allow chip manufacturers to produce chips even using relatively advanced processes such as 14nm. The country has made some progress in the development of domestic lithography tools: Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE), China’s most advanced lithography scanner manufacturer, reportedly introduced its first 28nm tool last year, but it is unclear whether the company will be able to produce such machines. in large quantities.

We have previously written that Huawei will release the advanced Kirin 9010 chip. Despite the lack of access to advanced equipment, the sanctioned Huawei promises to release a chip using 5nm process technology that will not be inferior to MediaTek Dimensity 9200+, Apple A12X Bionic and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.