Europe and the United States issued a joint statement to investigate mature process chips, but it is too late

Wan Da-hsien

2024-04-08 10:43Posted in Heilongjiang Science and Technology Creators

The West has begun to do things again, wanting to investigate the traditional semiconductor industry chain and take measures.

In the first few days, the United States and the European Union held a meeting called the "Trade and Technology Committee" and issued a 12-page joint statement in which semiconductors became the focus.

The so-called traditional semiconductor industry chain refers to the mature process part. At present, 70% of global chip shipments are mature process chips, because this kind of chip has the largest demand and the widest range of applications, such as automobiles, home appliances, digital products, medical equipment, network equipment, military, etc. These products have no restrictions on the size of the chip, and the requirements for performance are too high, and the market prospect is broad and sustainable. Moreover, it is an area that the West has not paid much attention to.

In fact, for a long time, the restrictions and blockades imposed by the United States on us have mainly focused on mid-to-high-end processes, such as the inability to purchase EUV lithography machines, the inability to OEM 5nm and more advanced chips, as well as related components, software, and so on.

And this time, their joint statement also proves once again that we have won again at the level of strategic design. Because in recent years, Continental has been vigorously developing a mature process of about 28nm, and has achieved a mature process of 100% pure localization.

According to the statistics of market research institute TrendForce, from 2023 to 2027, the ratio of global wafer foundry mature process (above 28nm) and advanced process (below 16nm) production capacity will remain about 7:3. Among them, in terms of the proportion of mature manufacturing processes, Taiwan Province of the mainland accounts for 49%, the mainland region accounts for about 29%, the United States accounts for only 6%, and the European Union accounts for even less. In addition, it is expected that by 2027, the proportion of mainland China will increase to 33%, Taiwan Province will decrease to 42%, and the United States will also decrease to 5%.

It can be seen that with the rapid development of the Internet of Things era, mature process chips are being applied on a large scale, so they are in a hurry again. And I believe that the proportion of the mainland will be much higher than the above prediction.

In fact, as early as December 2023, the United States announced that it would launch a new survey in January this year to find out the use of mature process chips in the United States. Friends who pay attention to semiconductors may think that this must involve China's mature process chips.

So in the future, will we take some measures against products that use Chinese chips on the grounds of old-fashioned security? This possibility still exists.

In addition, the United States claims that it has created an "unfair global playing field" for the United States and other countries because of its strong support for the semiconductor industry over the past decade. And this survey will help promote fair competition in traditional chip production. It's really funny, in terms of fairness, if the United States dares to say first, other countries will have to be a few tenths of a percent.

In any case, the United States and the West have begun to be nervous about mature process semiconductors, which also shows that we have chosen the right and done the right thing.

In addition, in the joint statement, they declared that it is essential to build a resilient semiconductor supply chain and ensure leadership in cutting-edge technologies.

Again, to ensure the lead, such a cliché is no longer strange. In fact, if you want to take the lead, you can continue to engage in technology research and development and enhance your own strength, instead of ganging up everywhere and engaging in blockade and suppression. What is the reason and logic of you stagnation, not wanting to make progress, and not letting people progress?

At the same time, the joint statement also announced the establishment of a joint early warning mechanism to identify supply chain disruptions and take early action to address their impacts, sharing information about the semiconductor industry, and highlighting the monitoring of gallium and germanium market movements.

It seems that these two key raw materials are indeed important, and they cannot be well supplied independently, so gallium and germanium will also be a strategic resource with good room for use.

Although, it is not clear what the next steps the United States and the European Union plan to take against traditional semiconductors. But the EU has said it wants to reduce its dependence on the outside world. So it can be guessed that on the one hand, it is the key raw materials gallium and germanium mentioned earlier, and on the other hand, it is a mature process chip produced in China and the United States.

But can this be done? Needless to say, gallium and germanium. And the chips made in China are basically self-produced and self-used, and one is not enough if it is not exported, so how can it be exported. Of course, you can choose not to import products equipped with Chinese chips, so the question arises: the world's largest electronic product production base is in China, is it possible that the West wants to re-establish a new industrial chain on its own, and completely isolate China? Is there money? Even if it can print money, are there people? Are there hard-working talents? Can it create high-quality goods with good quality and low prices? Is there a high-quality housing market for more than 1 billion people?

More importantly, do you have that time?

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