The background and importance of independent innovation in Huawei's chip industry
Semiconductor chips are the core of the modern information technology industry and a strategic resource to support economic and social development. Due to its long-term dependence on imports, the mainland chip industry is facing the risk of being "stuck". In recent years, the United States and other Western countries have imposed severe technology blockades on Chinese technology companies, including Huawei, due to geopolitical and technological competition concerns, cutting off their access to critical chips and equipment. This has undoubtedly brought great challenges to China's scientific and technological development, but it has also injected strong impetus into our independent innovation. As one of the enterprises with the strongest scientific and technological strength in China, Huawei is making every effort to break through the "bottleneck" dilemma of the chip industry, and realize the independent and controllable industrial chain through independent research and development of key technologies and equipment.
The chip industry is related to national security and development, and is an important indicator of a country's scientific and technological strength and comprehensive national strength. Once you have mastered all the key links such as chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, you can truly achieve autonomy and control, and are not restricted by external forces. This is not only related to the development of emerging technologies such as information and communication and artificial intelligence, but also to traditional fields such as national defense and military industry, aerospace and so on. Independent innovation in the chip industry is a top priority related to the national strategy and must be attached great importance to it. Only by truly mastering the core technology of the chip industry can we occupy a favorable position in the global scientific and technological competition and achieve high-quality development.
The progress of Huawei's self-developed lithography machine
The core link of chip manufacturing is the lithography process, and the lithography machine is the most critical equipment in the lithography process. At present, the global lithography machine market is monopolized by the Dutch company ASML, and its EUV (extreme ultraviolet lithography machine) is in an absolute leading position. Due to the technological blockade by Western countries, Huawei has difficulty obtaining ASML's EUV lithography machines, which undoubtedly brings huge obstacles to chip manufacturing. In order to overcome this bottleneck, Huawei has launched a plan to independently develop lithography machines since 2018, investing hundreds of billions of yuan in research and development.
The research and development of lithography machines is extremely difficult, requiring not only a large amount of capital investment, but also long-term unremitting efforts. One of the core components of a lithography machine is a light source, which requires extremely precise lasers and mirrors, and the manufacturing process is extremely demanding. It is also necessary to develop high-precision alignment systems, automatic control systems, etc. It is understood that Huawei has made breakthroughs in laser technology, precision manufacturing and other fields, and is expected to achieve independent research and development of lithography machines in the next few years. Once successful, it will completely break the monopoly of ASML and inject new impetus into the independent development of the mainland chip industry.
Other possible breakthrough paths
In addition to its self-developed lithography machine, Huawei is also exploring other possible technological breakthrough paths. The "nanoimprint" technology proposed by Canon Corporation of Japan has attracted wide attention in the industry. This technology uses a template to imprint nanoscale patterns onto a substrate to create chips that are expected to bypass dependence on lithography machines. At present, Canon has already demonstrated samples of 8nm chips, and will further advance the research and development of 5nm and 3nm processes in the future. If this technology can mature and industrialize, it will form a strong challenge to ASML's monopoly position.
Some plant cell wall breaking technologies may also provide some ideas for chip manufacturing. For example, physical wall breaking technology uses physical forces such as grinding, high pressure, and ultrasound to destroy cell walls; Enzymatic hydrolysis uses enzymes to degrade the cell wall. Although these technologies are mainly used to extract the active ingredients in plant cells, their principles may also be used for the processing of materials in chip manufacturing. This requires further research and exploration.
Breaking through the technological blockade of chip manufacturing is not achieved overnight, and we need to work hard in multiple directions to find various possible innovation paths. Only through independent innovation can we truly master the core technology of the chip industry and realize the independent and controllable industrial chain.
Challenges and the future
Huawei's self-developed chip-making equipment, such as lithography machines, faces huge technical challenges. The difficulty of developing lithography machines has been likened by industry insiders to the difficulty of "recreating the Manhattan Project", which requires a lot of capital, manpower and time investment. The mainland also has deficiencies in the upstream materials and equipment of lithography machines, and needs to further strengthen basic research and industrial layout.
On the other hand, changes in the international landscape have also brought us new opportunities. In recent years, the United States has imposed "long-arm jurisdiction" on its allies, and even restricted the Dutch company ASML from exporting lithography machines to China, which has caused dissatisfaction in Europe and other places. If Europe, Japan and other regions can form a new technology camp and strengthen cooperation with China, it will be beneficial for us to obtain key technologies and equipment.