Localization of the semiconductor industry in China is a long-term strategic goal. In recent years, the localization rate throughout the semiconductor supply chain has gradually increased. However, the current unstable domestic and international environment has further spurred the rapid development of China’s semiconductor industry.
Semiconductor devices are still in a golden age of development
Currently, China’s semiconductor equipment can largely meet the needs of all stages of the semiconductor manufacturing process (except lithography equipment). The localization rate and major manufacturers of various equipment are shown in the table above.
According to reports, China is the world’s largest semiconductor equipment market. In the first half of this year, China spent a record $25 billion on chip-making tools, more than Taiwan, South Korea and the United States combined.
Meeting AI demands: Storage industry seeks innovation and transformation
Chinese memory manufacturers are aggressively expanding their DRAM production capacity to expand their market share. In terms of specific products, competition among domestic memory manufacturers is accelerating in areas such as DDR4 and LPDDR4.
Meanwhile, the demand for memory continues to rise due to the rapid growth of the AI market. Major international companies are focusing more on advanced technologies such as DDR5 and HBM, which is creating opportunities for Chinese DRAM manufacturers. Domestic memory manufacturers are also working to transition to high-end storage, accelerating research and development of HBM and DDR5 technologies.
Silicon carbide accelerates toward the 8-inch era
In the silicon carbide (SiC) field, manufacturers across the Chinese supply chain are entering the 8-inch SiC market, from materials (substrate/epitaxy) to chips/modules and equipment.
According to DRAMeXchange’s incomplete statistics, more than 100 Chinese companies have entered the SiC field in the past two years, and more than 50 SiC projects are expected to make significant progress in 2024.
Currently, China has established two major 8-inch SiC wafer production lines. UNT builds the first 8-inch SiC MOSFET wafer production line in Shaoxing Yuecheng City, while Silan Microelectronics officially launches the country’s first 8-inch SiC power device chip manufacturing project on June 18 with a total investment of 12 billion yuan did.
China becomes a growth engine for mature nodes
Driven by localization trends, China’s domestic foundries are expected to become the main growth driver for mature nodes by 2025, according to a new study by TrendForce. The global production capacity of the top 10 mature node foundries is estimated to increase by 6%. By 2025, price trends may face downward pressure.
TrendForce predicts that by the end of 2025, mature node capacity in Chinese foundries will account for more than 25% of the world’s top 10 companies, with 28/22nm nodes contributing the most to capacity additions. Additionally, Chinese foundries are advancing specialized process technology, especially in HV platforms, with 28nm volume production expected by 2024.
Advanced packaging accelerates adoption of 2.5D and chiplet technologies
Advanced packaging technologies such as SiP, WL-CSP, 2.5D, 3D, CoWoS, InFO, Foveros, and X-Cub offer new possibilities for the semiconductor industry as the industry approaches the physical limits of transistor density and chip size. has been created. Among these, China’s progress in the field of advanced packaging is particularly noteworthy.
This year, Chinese companies such as JCET, Tongfu Microelectronics, and HT-Tech have made significant investments and made significant progress in advanced packaging projects.
Furthermore, in the emerging FOPLP advanced packaging technology field, Chinese companies such as HT-Tech, ECHINT, MIIC, and SiPTORY are actively expanding their presence.
To meet the demand for high-performance chip packaging, the domestic packaging supply chain is also exploring the development of 2.5D packaging technology and accelerating the implementation of chiplet technology.
Innovation in AI technology in China
China’s AI industry is developing rapidly, the emergence of unicorn companies is accelerating, and the market size continues to expand. Representative companies include Infinigence AI, Alibaba Cloud, Baidu, AIsphere, Vastai Technologies, BIRENTECH, and MThreads.
China’s AI industry enjoys great advantages, including huge industrial scale and widespread application demand. Furthermore, China leads the world in AI research results, with the highest number of patents and papers. Data shows that in 2022, China will account for 61.1% of all AI patents granted worldwide.
However, China’s AI industry faces the challenge of breaking through the core underlying technology. It lags behind top global standards, especially in areas such as model innovation and computational resources. The most significant bottleneck is in the AI chip, especially the GPU.
(Photo provided by JCET)
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