China's leading contract chipmaker SMIC's 14nm process yields have reached 90-95 percent, tying TSMC's equivalent process, according to a March 10 report by financial website Xuangubao.cn.
SMIC is at full capacity for all processes, with orders for some mature processes already scheduled for 2022, the report said.
SMIC said on March 3 that it had reached a $1.2 billion product purchase order with ASML of the Netherlands.
On March 4, ASML said the agreement related only to DUV lithography. The agreement was signed on Jan. 1, 2018, and runs initially through Dec. 31, 2020, and was extended on Feb. 1, 2021, to the end of December 2021.
SMIC's equipment supply for mature processes such as 14nm and 28nm has already been licensed by the US, as previously reported.
SMIC co-CEO Liang Mong Song previously said the company's 28nm, 14nm, 12nm, and N+1 technologies have entered volume production at scale, and 7nm technology development has been completed and can enter risky volume production in April this year.
Liang said the most critical and also the most daunting 8 technologies of 5nm and 3nm have been launched and can enter the development stage when the EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography arrives.
SMIC went public in China in July last year, and 40% of the listed proceeds were used for the 12-inch chip SN1 project, 20% as reserve funds for advanced and mature process R&D projects, and 40% as supplementary working capital.
SMIC owns or holds several 300mm and 200mm wafer fabs in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, and Jiangyin.
(Source: SMIC)
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