Huawei and SMIC successfully cooperate to develop 5nm chip

According to Wccftech , SMIC's 5nm chip manufacturing technology has reached a new milestone when the company can start small-scale trial production. The first processor to apply this 5nm process could be a new member of Huawei's new Kirin series, expected to be placed on the Mate70 series smartphone model launched later this year.

Huawei and SMIC are working together to develop advanced chips

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SMIC was forced to use older lithography (DUV) machines because it couldn’t do it with EUV machines, making the Chinese semiconductor company’s new milestone all the more remarkable. Using DUV machines to produce 5nm chips can result in very low yields and high mass production costs due to the increased labor required.

SMIC’s 5nm chips are reportedly 50% more expensive than TSMC’s 5nm chips, but Huawei has had to accept this because the US government’s ban prevents the company from accessing advanced semiconductor technologies produced by EUV – a manufacturing machine that can only be created by ASML from the Netherlands.

Huawei has now patented a technology called “self-aligned quad pattern lithography” (SAQP) that promises to enable the company to produce 3nm chips. It’s unclear whether SMIC’s DUV machines can be “customized” to help produce these chips. Additionally, rivals TSMC and Samsung Foundry are aiming for 2nm chips for mass production next year, meaning Huawei is still far behind.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/huawei-va-smic-hop-tac-phat-trien-thanh-cong-chip-5nm-185240621153012462.htm