In the development of China's manufacturing industry, the chip industry has always been a particularly critical and highly valued field. However, in the past few decades, China's chip industry has faced a huge dilemma, mainly reflected in the lack of technology, talent and market. However, in recent years, with the government's investment and support in the chip field and the rise of some emerging companies, China's chip industry has gradually come out of the shadows and gradually grown into a highly competitive force in the world.
Recently, a Chinese chip company known as the "chip behemoth" - Boiling Lake (SMIC) has undergone a series of developments, and it has become the strength support for Huawei to usher in hope. This article will explore the latest developments in this field.
First, the development history of Boiling Lake (SMIC).
Boiling Lake is an integrated circuit manufacturing enterprise established in 2000, headquartered in Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. It is the first chip company in Chinese mainland to have an 8-inch wafer production line and a 12-inch wafer trial line, and it is also one of the most advanced chip manufacturing enterprises in the world. The company is mainly engaged in IC design, manufacturing, packaging and testing. In September 2017, Boiling Lake was successfully listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Second, the technical strength of Boiling Lake
Boiling Lake already has the world's leading integrated circuit technology research and development and manufacturing capabilities, and has a complete technological innovation ecosystem, so that it can provide customers with high-quality integrated services on a global scale. At present, Boiling Lake's foundry technology has reached the 14nm level, and the 10nm process is expected to be launched in 2021. At the same time, the company has also enhanced its core competitiveness by continuously promoting the research and development and production of chips in the fields of 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT).
3. Cooperation between Boiling Lake and Huawei
With the US sanctions against Huawei, how Huawei responds to the US technology blockade and suppression has become the most critical issue. This has also prompted Huawei to start looking for local chip foundries in China to replace American suppliers. Boiling Lake's high-end manufacturing technology and close cooperation with Huawei have become one of Huawei's first choices for finding alternatives. In fact, Boiling Lake has been an important partner of Huawei since its establishment. At present, Boiling Lake has begun mass production of Huawei's Kirin series processors, and is regarded as an important way for Huawei to get rid of its dependence on foreign chip suppliers such as Qualcomm and Samsung.
Fourth, the comparison between boiling lake and TSMC
In the global chip foundry business, Taiwan's TSMC has always occupied a dominant position in the market, but with the accelerated rise of China's chip manufacturing industry, Boiling Lake has gradually approached TSMC. In fact, Boiling Lake can form a relatively close comparison of strength with TSMC in technology and equipment, and has become competitive in some fields that have received high attention due to high clock frequency and other characteristic technologies.
V. Conclusion
In short, the rise of Boiling Lake in the chip industry marks that China's chip industry is ushering in new opportunities and challenges. With the innovation of technology and the strong support of the government for the chip industry, Chinese chip companies are gradually embarking on the road of large-scale and differentiated development. In the future, China's chip manufacturing industry needs to continuously improve its core technology and overall strength in all links of the industrial chain, and carry out in-depth cooperation with global leading enterprises to become one of the protagonists of the global chip market. The boiling lake will play an important role in this process, bringing more new hopes for the development of China's chip industry.