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A tale (from 13)
the West have already learned advanced
process techniques. He believes the U.S.
advantage can be measured in a two-three
year timeframe, “given that China already
knew these types of sanctions would ar-
rive.”
Specific prohibitions
While the October 7 sanctions will affect Tariffs and other import/export controls have been around in dif-
the fortunes of many U.S. companies, the ferent forms for centuries One of the most notorious in the U.S.,
government directive specifically applies to named after (left) Senator Reed Smooth (R-Utah) and Rep. Willis
Hawley (R-Oregon), was codified in 1930. It has been blamed for
logic chips with non-planar transis- making the Great Depression worse.
tor architecture (FinFET/GAAFET) of
16nm/14nm or below, according to Seek- China Briefing’s Devonshire-Ellis maintains
ing Alpha. that the supply chain issue for the semi-
conductor industry “is gradually starting
In addition, DRAM chips of 18nm half-pitch to whittle down towards the geographical
or less and NAND flash memory with more presence of where the manufacturing min-
than 128 layers. eral components are to be found.”
In his Seeking Alpha blog, Dr. Robert Future political problems
Castellano. president of The Information The U.S. is likely to face a future where it
Network, reports that Chinese equipment may have to source rare minerals from
companies are “coming on strong.” unfriendly countries, including China and
Russia, says the Briefing.
Replacing foreign made equipment
Castellano says the revenues of Chinese As many experts who follow the political
equipment suppliers are “growing signifi- battles of the world stage have said, China
cantly faster than non-Chinese companies. knew draconian controls were coming, the
This slower growth is reflected in imports only question was when?
as China moves to replace non-domestic
semiconductor ement wgrown equipment.” Major revenue source
The major equipment makers, particularly
According to Castellano, Applied Materi- at the front-end were not as prescient.
als, the United States’ 55-year-old maker As noted, for several of the largest U.S.
of front-end equipment, has at least eight machine makers _ such as Applied Materi-
competitors in sectors that include ma- als — China has provided a major revenue
chines for CMP, epitaxy, PECVD,PVD, RTP source.
and dielectric/conductor eteching.
There is no question that the controls will
Growth in Chinese equipment companies have a dampening affect on Chinese chip
in 1H22 compared to 1H21 increased by makers, such as one of the largest Semi-
51.0 %. In contrast, says Castellano, the conductor Manufacturing Industrial Co.
mean growth of non-Chinese equipment (SMIC, which is partly owned by the Chi-
makersreased o12.3%. nese government.
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