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I'm not sure why one or two process nodes ahead is considered such a national security issue. Is it like an encryption breaking ability or something else?
by gmm1990 4y ago
I'm not sure why one or two process nodes ahead is considered such a national security issue. Is it like an encryption breaking ability or something else?
- MrFoof 4y agoIt's because it's not easy to catch up. In some cases, it can actually be impossible. Particularly if issues such as embargoes, sanctions and/or blockades can functionally block access to required equipment or talent. For example, it'd be hard to bring a new fab online when the ships or planes carrying the fabrication equipment get blown up. Take a look at how Russia attempted and failed to scale up semiconductor fabrication into the 1980s and 1990s. They weren't 2 nodes back. They were WAY further back than that, and even today are still struggling to bring online nationally-developed fabrication technology of which the equivalent has existed elsewhere for 20-30 years. China's SMIC is going to be bringing on "7nm" soon, despite being unable to purchase EUV equipment due to sales embargo. I can't imagine the effort that was required to make 193nm DUV machines produce chips reliably with a "7nm" feature size. EUV isn't required, but it surely makes things much easier.
- ksec 4y agoSMIC 7nm size is actually 7nm in TSMC terms, or Intel 7 / original Intel 10nm. Which didn't use EUV at all.
- opportune 4y agoBecause it lowers demand for the domestic nodes outside of military, making them more expensive and reducing R&D budget. Also even for non-military uses, if all of that market switched to foreign semis, it’d cause a lot of economic problems if we couldn’t import foreign semis any longer. Absent an embargo or war, that still gives countries that produce the better semis a lot of leverage.