SMIC, China’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, produced 5nm chips without using advanced EUV machines, which gives companies such as Samsung and TSMC an advantage in cutting-edge chip production. The 5nm process using DUV equipment has been completed and SMIC’s first wafer group is ready for mass production. it is claimed. Huawei has previously worked closely with its local foundry partner to launch a new Kirin SoC that will be available in the upcoming Mate 70 series in October this year. It was said.
Successfully completing the 5nm process would already be a challenging task for SMIC, as the US trade law prohibits companies such as Netherlands-based ASML from supplying its most advanced EUV machines to any companies. It does. With its competitive advantage hampered, SMIC was forced to achieve this goal using existing DUV equipment. According to a chip expert, 5nm wafers could already be mass produced on older machines, but this would be a costly venture and not efficient.
It was later estimated that SMIC’s 5nm chip prices would be up to 50 percent more expensive than TSMC’s in the same edition, leaving Huawei unable to cover many of these component costs. It meant that if it worked, it would have a hard time selling the Mate 70 series to consumers at a reasonable profit margin. For now, we don’t have much information about prices and what Huawei will do.
While SMIC is likely aiming to produce 5nm wafers within a few years, there have been rumors of establishing a research and development team aimed at continuing development of 3nm chips ± to use an old production process We know that there is no limit. For now, we have no choice but to wait for Huawei’s first 5nm SoC to arrive and see what improvements are made on SMIC’s 5nm node.
