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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC)i

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is the largest semiconductor foundry company in mainland China. It is a partially state-owned publicly-listed Chinese company, and supplies Qualcomm, Broadcom and Texas Instruments, among other notable businesses.

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  • Huawei did not reveal details of the processors that power the Pura 70 series, but analysts believe the new line will use the company’s own Kirin chips
  • Pura 70 Ultra, the high-end model with a price starting at 9,999 yuan, and Pura 70 Pro, priced from 6,499 yuan, have already sold out on Huawei’s online store

A senior US official reiterated that SMIC’s 7-nm semiconductor process is ‘low-yield’, but said he cannot comment on potential investigations.

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At a major industry event in Shanghai, China’s top semiconductor executives failed to address the elephant in the room: growing US export restrictions on advanced chip technology.

Most of the Chinese entities that Washington could blacklist were previously identified as chip-making facilities acquired or being built by Huawei.

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Zhou Meisheng, formerly the executive vice-president of R&D at SMIC, is heading to CXMT according to report, in a move that could boost memory chip maker’s research efforts.

Huawei Technologies’ new Ascend 910B chip, already available on the mainland, is said to be on par in terms of computing power with Nvidia’s sought-after A100 graphics processing unit.

A federal investigation into chip equipment supplier Applied Materials involving China shipments has widened to other US agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In race for cutting-edge technology, the realisation is rising that older-generation chips are still vital to military use as well as cars and consumer electronics.

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SMIC and Huawei, two key players in Beijing’s efforts to defeat US sanctions on advanced chips, are among the country’s top recipients of local government funding this year.

House panel rues ‘decades of investment’ after investigation of GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Walden International.

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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s top contract chip maker, reported lower revenue and net income for 2023 amid weaker global demand, stiff competition and high inventories.

China’s total output of integrated circuits in 2023 increased 6.9 per cent from a year earlier despite sluggish demand at one of its largest wafer foundries in the second half, according to data published on Wednesday.

Dutch chip-making equipment manufacturer ASML was forced to curb more of its exports to China after the Dutch government partially revoked some of its 2023 export licences ahead of the new year.

China imported 16 lithography systems from the Netherlands last month for US$762.7 million, a massive year-on-year spike in spending on the critical tools.

A leading Chinese semiconductor company has made the country’s first new-generation mobile memory chips, achieving key progress in catching up with foreign rivals.

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American semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials is under criminal investigation for potentially evading export restrictions on China’s top chip foundry SMIC, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The new US export controls that target less-advanced lithography systems have exposed China’s deficiency in chip-making equipment, despite progress towards Beijing’s overall goal of semiconductor self-sufficiency.

SMIC used ASML’s less-advanced DUV machines together with tools from other companies to make the chip used on Huawei's new 5G smartphones, according to people familiar with the matter.

Updated US export controls are expected to further restrict China’s chip ambitions as Dutch firm ASML says it is seeking more clarification from Washington.

China produced 679 million smartphones from January to August this year, down 7.5 per cent from the same period in 2022, according to data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Changes loom for the global chip manufacturing supply chain, as Taiwan and mainland China grapple with geopolitical tensions and the semiconductor policies of various governments.

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