Published November 21,2024
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China’s Huawei plans to start out mass-producing its most superior synthetic intelligence chip within the first quarter of 2025, even because it struggles to make sufficient chips resulting from U.S. restrictions, mentioned two individuals conversant in the matter.
The telecoms conglomerate has despatched samples of the Ascend 910C – its latest chip, meant to rival these made by U.S. AI chipmaker Nvidia – to some expertise corporations and began taking orders, the sources informed Reuters.
Huawei is on the coronary heart of U.S.-China friction over commerce and safety. Washington has imposed a sequence of curbs on Huawei and different Chinese firms, arguing that their technological progress poses a nationwide safety threat to the U.S. Beijing, which is attempting to make the world’s second-biggest financial system self-sufficient in superior semiconductors, denies such claims.
The restrictions have hampered Huawei’s means to get the yield – the proportion of chips that come off the manufacturing line absolutely purposeful – of its superior AI chips excessive sufficient for them to be commercially viable.
The 910C is being made by prime Chinese contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) on its N+2 course of, however a scarcity of superior lithography gear has restricted the chip’s yield to round 20%, mentioned one supply who was briefed on the outcomes.
Advanced chips want yields of greater than 70% to be commercially viable.
Even Huawei’s present most superior processor, the SMIC-made 910B, has a yield of solely round 50%, forcing Huawei to slash manufacturing targets and delay filling orders for that chip, the sources mentioned.
Huawei and SMIC didn’t reply to requests for touch upon Thursday.
U.S. RESTRICTIONS BITE
TikTok’s Chinese mother or father, ByteDance, ordered greater than 100,000 Ascend 910B chips this yr however had acquired fewer than 30,000 as of July, a tempo too sluggish meet the corporate’s wants, Reuters reported in September. Other Chinese expertise firms which have ordered from Huawei have complained of comparable issues, sources have mentioned.
U.S. curbs embody barring China since 2020 from acquiring excessive ultraviolet lithography (EUV) expertise from Dutch producer ASML, used to make the world’s most refined processors.
“Huawei knows there is no short-term solution, given the lack of EUVs, so it will give priority to strategic government and corporate orders,” the supply mentioned.
ASML has additionally stopped delivery its most superior deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machines to China resulting from guidelines imposed by the Biden administration final yr. Some fabs have additionally been restricted from shopping for older ASML DUV fashions.
SMIC calls for a premium of as much as 50% for chips made on its superior nodes, that are much less superior than these of Taiwanese chip-making large TSMC, and are made utilizing enhanced ASML DUVs. Huawei has supplemented its SMIC-made chips with ones made by rival TSMC, based on analysts and sources.
TSMC notified the U.S. Commerce Department a number of weeks in the past that certainly one of its chips had been present in a Huawei 910B course of. The U.S has positioned Huawei on a commerce checklist that requires suppliers to acquire licenses to ship any items or expertise to the corporate.
Washington has since clamped down additional, ordering TSMC to halt shipments of superior AI chips to Chinese clients, in a transfer concentrating on the diversion of chips to Huawei.
U.S. authorities are planning export controls on the semiconductor business that can additional limit shipments for Chinese corporations. Donald Trump, who was president from 2017 to 2021 and can return to the White House in January, has made tough-on-China commerce insurance policies core to his financial agenda.
(Reporting by Fanny Potkin; Additional reporting by Karen Freifield; Editing by Brenda Goh and William Mallard)
Kaynak: REUTERS
Source: www.anews.com.tr