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EXPLAINED: Smic | Vintage Vibes

China is considering export controls on AI technologies, including banning local companies from using TSMC, report claims — restrictions would also cover advanced AI models, training data, and overseas acquisitions

China's Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) considers to restrict exports of advanced AI models, training data, and overseas acquisitions of strategically important technology companies; prohibit usage of foreign semiconductor manufacturing services.

Tom’s Hardware

SMIC's third-gen 7nm node shows smaller metal pitch than Intel 18A, higher transistor density than TSMC N6 without EUV — analysis of N+3 shows significant advancement for Chinese semi manufacturing

SMIC's N+3 process technology can achieve transistor density comparable to TSMC's N6 without using EUV lithography, but it fails to deliver performance or efficiency of modern production nodes.

Tom’s Hardware

China wants to spend nearly $300 billion on a national data center grid — all powered by domestically made silicon and looking to outperform the US

China plans a $295 billion AI data center grid relying heavily on domestic chips, telecom operators, and government-backed financing structures.

TechRadar

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Chinese fab SMIC's 7nm metal pitch beats Intel 18A but lags 38% on density, teardown finds — Huawei's sanctions-beating HiSilicon Kirin 9030 is the first subject of SemiAnalysis's new teardown lab

SemiAnalysis has published the first teardown from its new in-house lab, focusing on the minimum local metal pitch on SMIC’s third-gen 7nm at 32.5nm.

Tom’s Hardware

China drafts $295 billion plan to build national AI data center grid running on 80% homemade silicon — projected 2028 timeline could run into limits of local chip production

China is drafting a plan to spend roughly 2 trillion yuan over five years on a nationwide grid of AI data centers.

Tom’s Hardware

China adds homegrown AI chips to 'secure and reliable' procurement list for the first time — nine options added as move away from Nvidia continues

The certifications are valid for three years and were issued jointly by the China Information Technology Security Evaluation Centre and the National Secrecy Science and Technology Evaluation Centre.

Tom’s Hardware

Tech Brief (May 12): SMIC’s Plan to Buy Out Chip Unit Approved

China issues guidelines to regulate AI agents, robotics startup Vbot raises 500 million yuan

Caixin Global

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Chinese fabs import record volumes of US chipmaking equipment via Singapore and Malaysia — homegrown tool makers booked record 2025 revenues as price competition squeezes margins

2025 was a bumper year for Chinese chipmaking equipment firms Naura, AMEC, ACM Research, and Piotech, with each posting record revenues.

Tom’s Hardware

China has spent 3.6 times more than the US on chipmaking subsidies over the past decade — $142 billion and counting, easily outweighs CHIPS Act

Semiconductor industrial policy spending in China totaled around $142 billion between 2014 and 2023, roughly 3.6 times higher than the $39 billion committed in the United States over the same period.

Tom’s Hardware

China intensifies efforts to poach semiconductor talent from Taiwan, claims report — international restrictions motivate illicit efforts to obtain talent and equipment

Taiwan's National Security Bureau claims that China is intensifying efforts to steal semiconductor process technologies and other chip-related know-how from Taiwan as international restrictions get more severe.

Tom’s Hardware

US lawmakers aim to ban export of DUV chipmaking and etching tools to leading firms in China — bipartisan proposal would ban lithography equipment for Huawei, SMIC, and others

Bipartisan group of U.S. senators propose to impose blanket ban on export of advanced DUV lithography and etching tools to Chinese companies known to have worked with China's military, such as CXMT, Huawei, SMIC, and YMTC.

Tom’s Hardware

Business Brief (March 30): China Launches Trade Barrier Probes Against U.S.

BYD’s annual revenue tops 800 billion yuan for first time

Caixin Global

SMIC sent chipmaking tools to Iran's military, Trump administration officials say — report claims exchange began a year ago, 'almost certainly included technical training on SMIC's semiconductor technology'

The officials said the collaboration "almost certainly included technical training on SMIC's semiconductor technology."

Tom’s Hardware

China's top chip execs claim ASML alternative 'small, fragmented, and weak' — Chinese industry titans call for national effort to invest in advanced chipmaking tools

China's most senior semiconductor executives issued a public call this week for a consolidated national effort to build a domestic alternative to Dutch lithography giant ASML.

Tom’s Hardware

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Tom’s Hardware

China to increase leading-edge chip output by 5x in two years, report claims — aims to lift 7nm and 5nm production to 100,000 wafers per month, targeting half a million monthly by 2030

Chinese foundries looking to increase 7nm and below capacity to 100,000 wafer starts per month in one or two years, says Nikkei.

Tom’s Hardware

Applied Materials to pay $252 million penalty for selling chipmaking tools to banned Chinese firm — settles over alleged 56 tool exports to chipmaker SMIC following Entity List designation

Applied Materials must pay a $252 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it illegally exported semiconductor manufacturing equipment to SMIC subsidiaries.

Tom’s Hardware

Memory hoarding and skyrocketing prices hit entry-level electronics demand, foundry orders — China's top chipmaker points to supply chain pressures squeezing out consumers

Rising DRAM and NAND prices driven by AI megatrend and amplified by memory overbooking are hitting sales of inexpensive consumer electronics and smartphones, which affects orders of entry-level processors to foundries, according to SMIC.

Tom’s Hardware

Huawei's latest mobile is armed with China's most advanced process node to date despite using blacklisted chipmaker — Huawei Kirin 9030 mobile SoC made on SMIC N+3 process, but can't compete with 5nm node

TechInsights says Huawei's Kirin 9030 is built on SMIC’s N+3 process: an incremental, DUV-based extension of its 7nm-class technology that pushes density without EUV but falls well short of true 5nm nodes amid rising yield challenges.

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Tom’s Hardware

Server memory prices to double year-over-year in 2026, LPDDR5X prices could follow — 'seismic shift' means even smartphone-class memory isn't safe from AI-induced crunch

A worsening commodity DRAM shortage could be amplified by Nvidia's huge LPDDR5X demand and push memory prices even higher as server RDIMMs are poised to get 2X more expensive in 2026, according to Counterpoint Research.

Caixin Global

Tech Brief (Nov. 17): Robot-Maker Unitree Steps Closer to China IPO

Nexperia’s Dutch headquarters blamed its China unit for any failure to stabilize wafer shipments to customers, three Chinese astronauts returned safely to Earth after making an emergency switch to a backup spacecraft

Tom’s Hardware

China's largest chipmaker testing first homegrown immersion DUV litho tool — SMIC takes significant step on road to wafer fab equipment self-sufficiency

SMIC is testing a domestically built immersion DUV lithography system developed by Yuliangsheng and capable of 28nm-class process technology. But while it is said that the tool could be used to make 7nm or even 5nm-class chips with multipatterning, it remains to be seen whether this is going to happen…

Benzinga

Alibaba And SMIC Power Beijing's Bid To End Reliance On Nvidia And ASML

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) shares advanced in premarket trading Wednesday after reports that the company secured China Unicom as a major client for its artificial intelligence chips.

Benzinga

China's SMIC Pilots Domestic Lithography Machine To Push 7nm Chips As Beijing Turns Regulatory Heat On Nvidia

China's leading chipmaker is testing its first domestically produced advanced lithography machine for 7nm chips, even as regulators intensify scrutiny of U.S. rival Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).

Tom’s Hardware

U.S. gov't revokes TSMC's authorization to ship tools to its fabs in China — special export license to be pulled by end of 2025

The U.S. will revoke TSMC’s special export license for its Nanjing Fab 16 by the end of 2025, potentially disrupting its 16nm and 28nm-class operations and shifting Chinese customer demand toward rivals like SMIC and HuaHong. However, SMIC vows to ensure uninterrupted operations of its Chinese fabs.

Benzinga

Trump's First-Term Ban On EUV Tools Stalled Huawei, SMIC, Cambricon — Now China's Chip Factories Are Roaring Back, Warns David Sacks

White House-appointed “Crypto Czar” David Sacks warned Wednesday that Chinese semiconductor manufacturers are surging back despite previous export controls, citing new production data showing China’s chipmakers planning to triple artificial intelligence processor output.

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