In the past 2021, in addition to the rise in the price of various raw materials, "chip shortage" is the focus of global attention, many car companies can only be forced to stop work and production, and just recently about the mainland in this field has also received a good news, what is the specific situation?
In fact, this good news is mainly related to the lithography machine, people who know about chips should know the importance of lithography machine, it is known as the jewel of the industrial crown, currently maintaining a far leading position in the field, and even a dominant company is the Netherlands ASML.
The reason why it is said that the mainland has good news in terms of chips is because the mainland enterprises have finally successfully equipped the lithography machine under ASML, which is Innosec.
On December 8, 2021, The Chinese company Innosec said that it successfully purchased asML's lithography machine in 2021, and also successfully used the advanced lithography machine to launch an 8-inch gallium nitride mass production line, and the current shipment volume has reached 40 million.
This is also good news for the mainland, because because of the restrictions of the regulations formulated by the United States, it is more difficult for mainland companies to purchase an advanced lithography machine from ASML, and because of this, SMIC has also encountered obstacles in the production and manufacture of advanced process chips.
Some people may see this and wonder, ASML is obviously a Dutch company, why is it still under the control of the United States? In fact, this is mainly because there are clear provisions in the regulations formulated in the United States, but where the equipment of the company uses the relevant technology of the United States, it must be agreed by the United States at the time of transaction.
The technical threshold of the lithography machine itself is relatively high, although the surface seems to be produced by ASML, but to see the details, in fact, it is also the result of global cooperation, so in terms of product exports, ASML is bound to be restricted by the United States.
Fortunately, today's Sino-American Innosecco has been successfully equipped with ASML lithography machine, and also successfully realized the mass production technology of 8-inch silicon-based gallium nitride, among which it is worth mentioning that gallium nitride may be unfamiliar to many people, but in fact, it is now a third-generation chip material, and its application range is gradually extensive.
Compared with the traditional impression of silicon chips, the advantages of gallium nitride chips will be more obvious, especially in terms of high temperature resistance, for example, when the temperature exceeds 200 degrees Celsius, silicon-based equipment is prone to problems, and gallium nitride has the characteristics of high temperature resistance, and its melting point is even as high as 1700 degrees Celsius, which is why gallium nitride has gradually become a new favorite.
In terms of gallium nitride chips, the strength of Sino-Enterprise Innosecco cannot be ignored, especially with the blessing of ASML devices, the performance of its products has also been greatly improved, and it has won the support of many consumers around the world.
For the series of achievements so far, many people have been a little surprised, after all, Innosec is also a new star in the chip industry, it was officially established in 2015, and the development has only been 7 years.
To be able to obtain this achievement in such a short period of time, in fact, it is rare in the chip manufacturing industry, more importantly, according to the current development trend, many experts have predicted that after obtaining the ASML lithography machine, The Chinese enterprise Innosyco is expected to rely on its own strength in the future, and its shipment rate may increase by another 20%, successfully ranking among the top three in the global market.
Of course, the progress of Innosecco also means that the status of the mainland in the field of chips will be improved, but this does not mean that the mainland is already sitting back and relaxing in this field, after all, now the Chinese enterprise Innosecco is still greatly dependent on ASML lithography machine, once the corresponding product supply is lost, then the status of Innosecco may also decline.
This also means that the mainland only in the lithography machine industry to achieve independence, stronger and bigger, the future in the chip will be completely improved, now there are more and more domestic enterprises began to participate in it, Shanghai microelectronics is one of them, but the current enterprise is still stuck in the low-end field, compared with the Dutch ASML There is still a large gap.
Therefore, the mainland still has shortcomings in the field of chips, if a breakthrough can be achieved in the future in high-end lithography machines, then perhaps the problem of insufficient domestic chips will no longer exist, what do you think about this?