China's demand for local chip production capacity has never been so strong, and progress has been very rapid.
The 28nm process will be the new starting point for 100 percent locally made chips, and the 28nm and 14nm chips are expected to be mass-produced this year and next year respectively, official media Global Times said on Wednesday, citing industry sources.
China-made 14nm chips could be in mass production by the end of next year, and domestic chips have seen their best moment, the report said quoting Wen Xiaojun, the director of the Electronic Information Research Institute of China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute.
China's development of 14nm chips has overcome many technical difficulties, basically covering the entire industrial chain system of China's integrated circuits, reversing the previous passive situation of the introduction of a full set of process technology, Wen said.
The rapid development of 14nm and even 28nm chips means that China uses mature processes to meet general chip needs, he said, adding that the country is not just pursuing high process, but pay more attention to design and packaging optimization.
After the mass production of 14nm chips, expanding production capacity requires good financial support. Equipment, including lithography, cleaning equipment, polishing instruments are expensive and require a lot of water and electricity in the process, he said.
Wen expressed optimism about the future of China-made chips, saying that they are still some distance away from the chip giants, but have seen hope.
Wen said, 14-12nm production line is very critical. The 14nm process and above can meet the needs of 70 percent of the current semiconductor manufacturing process, and now the need for 12nm process is in 5G chips.
In addition, 14nm can basically meet the needs of China's domestic desktop CPU needs of the process, he said.
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