China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) plans to start mass-producing its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip in the first quarter of next year, even as it struggles to make enough chips due to US restrictions, two people familiar with the matter said.
The telecoms conglomerate has sent samples of the Ascend 910C — its newest chip, meant to rival those made by US chipmaker Nvidia Corp — to some technology firms and started taking orders, the sources told Reuters.
The 910C is being made by top Chinese contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) on its N+2 process, but a lack of advanced lithography equipment has limited the chip’s yield to about 20 percent, said one source who was briefed on the results.
Photo by AFP
Advanced chips need yields of more than 70 percent to be commercially viable.
Even Huawei’s current most advanced processor, the SMIC-produced 910B, has a yield of only about 50 percent, forcing Huawei to slash production targets and delay filling orders for that chip, the sources said.
Huawei and SMIC did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動), ordered more than 100,000 Ascend 910B chips this year, but had received fewer than 30,000 as of July, a pace too slow meet the company’s needs, Reuters reported in September.
Other Chinese technology companies that have ordered from Huawei have complained of similar problems, sources have said.
US curbs include barring China since 2020 from obtaining extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology from Dutch manufacturer ASML Holding NV, used to make the world’s most sophisticated 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 sources said.
ASML has also stopped shipping its most advanced deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machines to China due to rules imposed by US President Joe Biden’s administration last year. Some fabs have also been restricted from buying older ASML DUV models.
SMIC demands a premium of up to 50 percent for chips made on its advanced nodes, which are less advanced than those of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and are made using enhanced ASML DUVs. Huawei has supplemented its SMIC-produced chips with ones manufactured by rival TSMC, according to analysts and sources.
TSMC notified the US Department of Commerce several weeks ago that one of its chips had been found in a Huawei 910B processor. The US has placed Huawei on a trade list that requires suppliers to obtain licenses to ship any goods or technology to the company.
Washington has since clamped down further, ordering TSMC to halt shipments of advanced AI chips to Chinese customers, in a move targeting the diversion of chips to Huawei.
US authorities are planning export controls on the semiconductor industry that would further restrict shipments for Chinese firms.
Donald Trump, who was US president from 2017 to 2021 and is to return to the White House in January, has made tough-on-China trade policies core to his economic agenda.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
RSS