Rumor: US government extends trade ban with Chinese chipmaker SMIC

The US government reportedly plans to add the Chinese chip maker SMIC to the list of companies subject to the trade ban. SMIC claims to work on 7nm chips and to be able to stand on its own two feet more and more.

SMIC is said to be one of four companies that the US Department of Defense will add to the list of Chinese companies covered by the trade ban. That writes Bloomberg. That list currently includes 31 companies, including Huawei and ZTE. Currently, certain restrictions apply from the US to trade with SMIC.

The companies on the list are said to pose a threat to US national security because of their ties to the Chinese government. SMIC reports to Reuters that it has no relationship with the Chinese military and that it does not produce anything for military end use. SMIC’s global market share in chip production is 4 percent, according to TrendForce.

The manufacturer is lagging behind with its lithography technology compared to competitors TSMC and Samsung, but it says it is quickly catching up. The company claims to have successfully taped out a 7nm node. The Chinese state media China.org.cn writes that the FinFET N + 1 node is comparable to the 7nm node of the Taiwanese TSMC.

Source: TrendForce

SMIC co-CEO Liang Mengsong further reports that the company could potentially become less dependent on ASML’s EUV machines for its chip production. As part of the trade ban, ASML would not be able to supply EUV machines to SMIC, as a result of which the chip manufacturer would see the catching up of the technology backlog strand.

SMIC refers to statements by ASML that it can still continue to supply its deep ultraviolet lithography machines to SMIC, as they would not be covered by the trade ban and SMIC could make 7nm chips with them. For smaller production processes, SMIC states that there has been a breakthrough for the technology called laser direct writing. That breakthrough would mean that 5nm production would be within reach. If that succeeds, the company would no longer have to depend on ASML’s EUV technology, or so is the hope.