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0 pointsFooBarWidget2y ago0 comments

Okay. Sub-10nm don't make much money, and China can't produce sub-10nm (or any node invented in the past 20 years) anyway without western help, and they won't catch up because all they're good at is copying. You guys have won. So why is the US still throwing more semiconductor sanctions at China, including sanctions designed at hindering China to manufacture at older process nodes, going as far as coercing allies? Don't these guys have better things to worry about now that they've won and China have lost, like domestic issues such as violence and income inequality?

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tooltalk2y ago

>> Sub-10nm don't make much money <<

sigh the cutting edge nodes get the vast majority of chip making revenue/profit.

>> China can't produce sub-10nm (or any node invented in the past 20 years) anyway without western help <<

China's SMIC already has 7nm, though efficiency, cost-effectiveness and yield are still unknown. As late as 2022, the US dept of commerce granted over $100B worth of licenses to China! so they got all tooling and lithos they need to make 7nm, or even 5nm, though they would be very expensive and poor yield.

>> and they won't catch up because all they're good at is copying <<

China could catch up organically, just probably not this decade, or next. The Japanese equipment makers such as TEL and the Dutch DUV/EUV maker, ASML, can still sell their equipments to China no problem; just not the most cutting edge stuff.

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