3 ms·
Ask HN: What is your take on SMIC 7nm and the Huawei chip?
I have my own suspicions, but I am wondering what other people are thinking about this little mystery. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/huaweis-new-mystery-7nm-chip-from-chinese-fab-defies-us-sanctions
- wmf 3y agoWhat's mysterious about it?
- TradingPlaces 3y agoHow did they do it without EUV?
- wmf 3y agoTSMC N7 doesn't use EUV and SMIC 7 nm is a copy of N7.
- TradingPlaces 3y agoMy understanding is that this is closer to N7+, which does.
- brucethemoose2 3y ago7nm is just a word. Maybe its right at the edge of what the old UV machines can do with double patterning and such.
- TradingPlaces 3y agoThat’s my thinking — a low yield version of TSM N7+, maybe?
- yyyk 3y agoIt's perfectly possible without EUV, if you're willing to accept high defect rates. That's one reason why the chip bans can never have military effects (the other is that current military hardware doesn't need the smaller nodes) - only commercial effects.
- TradingPlaces 3y agoBut the Huawei phone. I suspect the government is subsidizing that chip.