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Since Huawei's 5G chip was cut off, the shipment of smartphones as the main business has plummeted, and the domestic market, which was originally far ahead, has also been taken turns by other brands of mobile phones to sit at the top of the sales list.
In the process of continuous iteration of network technology, users are increasingly pursuing network speed and information feedback efficiency, according to market research shows that users are more inclined to support 5G smart phones that can support 5G networks when choosing to replace new mobile phones.
Huawei's chip supply chain was cut off
Previously, huawei's chips, although independently developed, did not produce them themselves. On the one hand, the manufacturing technology requirements of chips are extremely high, and on the other hand, the investment required to build fabs and chip production lines is quite huge.
And Huawei's own development is not focused on the semiconductor field, only to provide their own chips and open a special production line is indeed not necessary, so Huawei's chip supply has been produced by TSMC.
However, since TSMC was modified due to the "chip rules", it has not been able to realize the freedom of chip shipment. Even if Huawei's chip order is treated as an urgent order and the delivery is completed on the last restriction date, the chip cannot be supplemented later, and it is only one less piece. At present, it is not known how many 5G chips Huawei still has, but if this problem is not solved, the follow-up business will not be carried out.
Recently, Huawei has sent good news about chips
When Huawei's chip crisis will be resolved has always been a matter of great concern in the industry. Recently Huawei announced a good news about chips. This has the potential to get rid of the supply problems from TSMC.
According to the patent information of the State Patent Office, Huawei announced a patent for chip stacking packaging and terminal equipment on April 5.
It can solve the problem of excessive costs caused by the use of silicon through-hole technology while ensuring power supply demand.
At the press conference of Huawei's 2021 annual report held on March 28, 2022, Guo Ping, Huawei's rotating chairman, made a positive response to the chip issue.
Guo Ping said: In the future, on chips, Huawei may adopt a multi-core architecture, develop stacking technology, and exchange area for improving chip performance. Because the chip requirements of mobile phone applications are very high, not only the size is small enough, but also has strong computing power and low power consumption, it is still difficult for Huawei to take into account.
Now that the stacked packaging equipment is available, it is not difficult to produce it next, after all, Huawei's chips have been self-developed from the beginning, the technology is there, and it is not difficult to make it yourself.
Chip stacking technology is indeed feasible
Huawei's chip stacking technology is actually based on TSMC's 3D packaging process. After all, Huawei's previous chips have always been TSMC FOUNDRies, the two actually complement each other, and TSMC's chip production technology has progressed so quickly in part thanks to Huawei's technology provision.
Defects in chip production issues can also be timely feedback. TSMC previously tried to package two chips from the 28nm process together through an advanced 3D packaging process, and after testing, the chip performance was provided at least 1.5 times, proving that this technology is feasible.
Apple's newly released M1 Ultra chip is also through the glue bonding method, simply and rudely gluing two M1 chips together, and the chip performance has increased by up to 65%.
In addition, semiconductor giants such as AMD and Intel are also advancing in ultra-"chip" technology. TSMC, Samsung, Intel and other semiconductor manufacturers have also led the establishment of the "Small Chip Alliance" to jointly customize small chip production standards. This also means that the chip technology has been internationally recognized.
From the above point of view, the chip stacking technology that Huawei wants to develop is indeed feasible.
conclusion
At present, the only problem that Huawei has to solve is the problem of chip production technology. At present, our domestic chip development has been able to achieve mass production of 14nm process, and it is not dependent on EUV lithography machine to produce 7nm process chips, but the current yield rate cannot be compared with the chips produced by EUV lithography machines.
However, in the case that 5G chips and EUV lithography machines are facing difficult production, chip stacking technology is also a good choice, after all, the pursuit of 5G chips is to improve performance, and stacking chips can achieve performance improvement, why bother with the south wall?
Of course, this is also the best choice that can be made in the case of no choice, and our domestic enterprises, including Huawei, will not give up the research and development of 5G chips.
Only by mastering the core technology in their own hands can they be exempted from the restrictions of others. And at present, Huawei has replaced all the industrial chains that can be replaced by domestic production, which also shows that Huawei is gradually achieving full localization.
The same is true on the chip issue, Huawei has also joined forces with domestic research institutes and efficient to jointly overcome chip technology problems, and is working together to open up the domestic chip industry chain.
Huawei can indeed say goodbye to TSMC. Of course, if TSMC can also achieve independent technology research and development, Huawei will certainly not mind continuing to cooperate. After all, TSMC's supply cut is indeed not the original wish, and in order to improve the production chip process, it has also been vigorously developing its own 3D chip packaging process.
Do you think Huawei's self-developed chip stacking process performance can replace 5G chips? We welcome you to share your views with each other.