All this means is that China is now spinning up their own lithography machines so you’ll eventually be able to buy a 512GB stick of DDR5 on Alibaba for $8 + $20 shipping.
This was top of the line around 2010. So in consumer tech terms: Apple’s A7 SoC (iPhone 5S, iPad Air), Intel Sandy Bridge/AMD Bristol Ridge and DDR3 RAM .
They have better machines in production, they just cannot manufacturer them domestically. Using those machines they’re producing:
14nm (2014-2019 era, Intel Broadwell-Coffee Lake, Ryzen 1000/2000, DDR4), Mass produced by SMIC
7nm (2018-2021, Apple A12/A13, AMD Ryzen 3000/5000, faster DDR4), Limited production at SMIC
5nm (2020-2023 iPhone 12-15, AMD Zen4, DDR5-4800), currently in development/low yields ~20%
They do not have any EUV (sub-5nm) capacity domestically.
China isn’t that far behind current generation chips and most people are probably using devices with 14/7nm chips in them due to the AI bubble eating up all of the newest process chips and driving prices out of reach of consumers.
All this means is that China is now spinning up their own lithography machines so you’ll eventually be able to buy a 512GB stick of DDR5 on Alibaba for $8 + $20 shipping.
ASML makes the machines and they’re restricted from exporting to China. Does China have the capability to make comparable ones itself?
I have little doubt that they’re probably working on it.
A lot of companies make lithography machines, ASML just makes the best ones.
As of 2023, China has domestic companies who have made 28nm process nodes: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/chinas-first-28nm-capable-scanner-to-be-delivered-by-end-of-2023
This was top of the line around 2010. So in consumer tech terms: Apple’s A7 SoC (iPhone 5S, iPad Air), Intel Sandy Bridge/AMD Bristol Ridge and DDR3 RAM .
They have better machines in production, they just cannot manufacturer them domestically. Using those machines they’re producing:
They do not have any EUV (sub-5nm) capacity domestically.
China isn’t that far behind current generation chips and most people are probably using devices with 14/7nm chips in them due to the AI bubble eating up all of the newest process chips and driving prices out of reach of consumers.
insha’Allah.