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EXPLAINED: Smic | Vintage Vibes

This week on Tom's Hardware Premium: August 22, 2026 — foundries, supercomputers, China, and how to not overpay on a motherboard

We recap this week's Tom's Hardware Premium articles, including our latest advice on your next motherboard purchase, a look inside Samsung's Fab roadmaps, and much more.

Tom’s Hardware

Chinese chipmaker SMIC increases prices on strong AI demand

Co-CEO Zhao Haijun said on an earnings call that SMIC raised prices following negotiations with customers in the first quarter, and that it would charge more for wafers processed in the third quarter.

The Economic Times

China's DUV Breakthrough Triggers ASML Sell-Off as Homegrown Tools Enter Production

China's DUV breakthrough is set to test US and Dutch export bans, as domestic chip tools enter production and investors question ASML's future China sales.

International Business Times UK

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China begins mass production of homegrown immersion chipmaking machines in major breakthrough, report claims — first DUV lithography units will be delivered this year to SMIC, Hua Hong, and CXMT

A state-backed company in Shanghai has begun mass-producing immersion deep ultraviolet lithography machines and is due to deliver the first units this year.

Tom’s Hardware

China memory chipmaker CXMT set for Shanghai debut after Asia's biggest IPO

At the IPO price, CXMT is valued at about 579 billion yuan ($85.5 billion) before the possible exercise of the over-allotment option, making it one of China's largest listed semiconductor companies. The company's IPO is the biggest mainland Chinese semiconductor offering on record, surpassing SMIC's $7.5 billion Shanghai share sale…

The Economic Times

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

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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

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

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

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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.

Caixin Global

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

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

Tom’s Hardware

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."

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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

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.

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

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