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In recent years, the United States and Western countries such as the Netherlands have been trying their best to limit the development of China's semiconductor industry. They not only banned the sale of high-end chips to us, but also tried to restrict our import of advanced lithography machine equipment.
We were very angry about these actions.
However, no one could have predicted that just a few days ago, Huawei released a mobile phone that directly broke the blockade in the United States. After the news spread, the Dutch company ASML made a bold decision, they resolutely abandoned the United States and sold advanced lithography machine equipment to China.
So, what technical difficulties has Huawei's Mate60 mobile phone broken? Why did this incident cause such a sensation in the global semiconductor industry?
A few years ago, the United States used national security as an excuse to completely block the sale of Huawei's 5G chips, and the Sino-US trade war broke out.
Over time, Huawei's mobile phone sales have plummeted, and it has had to rely on 5G chips in inventory and old 4G chips to support the business.
However, on September 2 this year, Huawei "quietly" launched the Mate60 mobile phone. Although the official did not clearly state that the phone uses the first generation of mobile communication technology, careful netizens have found that its communication technology is completely consistent with the 5G standard. This means that Huawei has broken the blockade and taken the first step towards domestic 5G chips.
Western countries are very confused about this, they think it is very unusual for China to break through the blockade so quickly.
However, according to CaiLian Telegram, the Dutch government has applied to export some high-end infiltration lithography machines to China this year.
As we all know, as early as 2018, SMIC paid a huge amount of money to the Netherlands and signed an order for ASML cutting-edge lithography machines, planning to increase China's semiconductor production capacity through this move, while providing support for domestic high-end chip foundry to avoid too much reliance on imported chips.
However, the U.S. Department of Commerce soon became concerned about the matter. They believe that China's purchase of lithography machines interferes with the market, and if it is not regulated, it may affect global chip prices and even shake the monopoly position of European and American countries in the semiconductor industry.
Therefore, they have come forward to denounce the so-called "opportunism" of Chinese companies.
For us, ASML lithography machines are like a pearl in the industry, an advanced process lithography machine is expensive, can be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, even more expensive than a Boeing aircraft. In addition, its transportation process requires extreme care, requiring a dedicated transportation team in the Netherlands, more than 40 constant temperature and humidity protection boxes, professional anti-vibration air cushion vehicles, and 4 Boeing 747 freighters. Lithography machines are essential for businesses.
However, it is regrettable that this lithography machine has not yet arrived in China.
The reason is not because of the difficulty of transportation, but because the United States forcibly blocked the transportation of the lithography machine, which they said was done to "protect the security of the United States." This reason is unbelievable. The United States knows that high-end lithography machines will change the industry pattern, but insists on obstructing China's development, whenever it involves domestic self-research, they suppress and blockade China, and even violate the equality and free trade regulations of the World Trade Organization to confront China.
The Netherlands is a small country, neither politically stable nor defense-like, as strong as the United States.
Therefore, they can only cling to the United States and be pinned down. According to news reports in recent years, since the United States restricted the sale of high-end lithography machines to China, the export orders of Dutch ASML companies have dropped significantly, which is definitely a huge shock for them.
In fact, the Commerce Department's so-called ban on exports to China is nothing more than a huge trap. This is not only not beneficial to its own company, but also leads to huge losses in China's semiconductor industry. It can be said that they self-destroyed the Great Wall and shot themselves in the foot.
However, they underestimate the power of "Made in China". After several rounds of sanctions and suppression, China's domestic chip manufacturing industry has become stronger and stronger
, has achieved remarkable achievements in the low-end market. Changjiang Storage, Hefei Huaxin Microelectronics Aegis IC Design and other enterprises rely on SMIC, becoming the highlight of China's semiconductor industry.
With the gradual "decoupling" of chip transactions between China and the United States, the United States is very nervous. As a result, they took another drastic action, issuing a final ban on China's existing imported lithography machines, canceling the after-sales and maintenance services of some "regulated" lithography machines.
You know, China currently has about 1,000 imported lithography machines, of which at least fifty are advanced lithography machines. The lithography machine is an extremely complex and sophisticated device, containing more than 450,000 parts. Many parts need to be replaced and maintained regularly, such as light sources that need to be replaced periodically, and lenses that need to be adjusted according to use. In order to prevent technical leakage, these tasks are exclusively undertaken by the technical team of ASML companies in the United States or the Netherlands.
This means that China is currently unable to independently repair advanced lithography machines.
As soon as equipment fails, they become scrap metal and can no longer provide production support to the enterprise.
These restrictions have undoubtedly had a huge impact on China's chip manufacturing industry. But the United States never expected that their actions would arouse public anger and inspire China's determination to develop independently. In just a few years, China's lithography machine industry has experienced unprecedented difficulties, but the scientific research team persevered in overcoming the difficulties and finally got rid of the haze.
Going back to the timeline, let's take a look at August 29 this year. HUAWEI Mall released a letter to Huawei users, which roughly read: "Huawei Mate60 Pro will be officially launched on HUAWEI Mall at 12:08 p.m., allowing some consumers to experience the most powerful Mate mobile phone in history." ”
Huawei did not hold a press conference or conduct any new product warm-up activities. Even the advertising takes a very low-key approach. This is so rare in the mobile phone industry that many people don't realize that Huawei has quietly launched a new phone. It wasn't until the news reports appeared that everyone gradually realized the situation.
In this regard, many netizens began to speculate about what Huawei's real purpose is to do so. Because just two days before the news was released, that is, on August 27, US Secretary of Commerce Raimondo arrived in Beijing and planned to stay in China for four days to discuss national affairs.
However, Huawei once again unexpectedly broke the US blockade, and this five-year-long blockade policy eventually became a big joke in international economic history.
The scene is reminiscent of 12 years ago, when China's J-20 first flew. At that time, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates visited China and made a bold statement in the interview that China would not be able to create a fifth-generation fighter in a short period of time.
However, that afternoon, China's newest stealth fighter, the J-20, completed its maiden flight at Chengdu Airport, and the plane whizzed past Gates, giving him a resounding slap on the spot.
Today, Chinese companies are responding to U.S. hegemony in the same way. In fact, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce became wary of our R&D capabilities before his official visit to China. She said in an interview with the media that if Huawei continues to develop independently, she will take further measures to ensure the position of the United States in the chip industry.
This frank statement has allowed the world to see the ugly face of Western capitalism. They always adhere to the unilateral policy of "America first, other countries on the sidelines", which makes the international trade market full of chaos.
The small country could not resist, but could only swallow its anger. But China chose to face it head-on, showing its perseverance.
Now it seems that the US blockade is meaningless. If this continues, China may take the lead, and the United States may ask us to import chips. And we will no longer rush to buy Dutch ASML lithography machines, because in this context, their position has been seriously affected. Therefore, they decided to relax the policy to allow Chinese companies to continue to purchase some lithography machines.
What is less well known is that this move by the Netherlands will not have a substantial impact on the Chinese semiconductor industry because of the light they sell
This author once again solemnly declares that this article is my original and first published in today's headlines, and any form of plagiarism on other platforms is strictly prohibited, and legal responsibility will be pursued for infringement.