Semiconductor manufacturing worldwide is a technology race that could be said to be currently led by TSMC, whose main rivals in this case would be both Intel and SMIC, although they are still far from catching up the Taiwanese company. Today, SMIC has created a strategic alliance with Huawei to carry out the production of semiconductors 5nm thanks to a new patent on the technique of engraving self-aligning quadruple patterns.
In the technological field, it only takes a development that surpasses others to become a leading company, and we have seen this with some companies like TSMC in the manufacturing of semiconductors, since it was the first company to succeed to create semiconductors. of 5nm
The new semiconductors of the SMIC
As one can imagine, competing in a market like semiconductors is extremely complicated, since the different developments of companies that have managed to achieve certain technologies make it difficult to compete with them, which is why many companies that have need these chips end up choosing to use those which obviously have the best technology.
In the case of many companies that we know, in their latest developments they have chosen to use the semiconductors created by TSMC, forcing the rest of the companies present in this market to look for new customers, since the largest have them .this company. This is why it is not strange to see how alliances like that of Huawei
Thanks to the new patent filed between the two Chinese companies, SMIC This would be one more step towards the possibility of directly competing with TSMC, since with this technique called SAQP, this is what will allow these two companies to make the technological leap involved in the creation of these chips. Such Huawei as SMIC They worked with DUV machines to produce a knot that met US export standards.
The problem of new nodes
Currently there is a big problem for both Chinese companies, and that is the fact that they are very behind in terms of technology, and the main culprit for this is the type of machines they use, because the DUV machines have a technical limitation compared to the EUVs developed by ASML. This limitation is directly linked to the fact that SMIC had to develop a new type of engraving pattern in order to achieve the 5nm.
And the fact is that EUV tools offer wavelengths 14 times shorter than those that DUVs are capable of achieving, this directly implies that it is much easier to engrave designs of less than 10nm, this which makes the use of this machine practically obligatory. This cripples all companies that do not use EUV machines, forcing them to consider using them, or even manufacturing them, as they might attempt to do. Huawei.
