Huawei Chip Breakthrough Used Tech From Two US Gear Suppliers

(Bloomberg) — Huawei Technologies Co. and its partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. relied on US technology to produce an advanced chip in China last year, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

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Shanghai-based SMIC used gear from California-based Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp. to manufacture an advanced 7-nanometer chip for Huawei in 2023, the people said, asking not to be named as the details are not public.

The previously unreported information suggests that China still cannot entirely replace certain foreign components and equipment required for cutting-edge products like semiconductors. The country has made technological self-sufficiency a national priority and Huawei’s efforts to advance domestic chip design and manufacturing have received the backing of Beijing.

Representatives of SMIC, Huawei and Lam did not respond to requests for comment. Applied Materials and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which is responsible for implementing export controls, declined to comment.

Lauded in China as a major leap in indigenous semiconductor fabrication, last year’s SMIC-made processor powered Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro and a wave of patriotic smartphone-buying in the Asian country. The chip is still generations behind the top components from global firms, but ahead of where the US hoped to stop China’s advance.

The machinery used to make it, however, still had foreign sources including technology from Dutch maker ASML Holding NV as well as the gear from Lam and Applied Materials. Bloomberg News reported in October that SMIC had used equipment from ASML for the chip breakthrough.

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Leading Chinese chip equipment suppliers including Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. and Naura Technology Group Co. have been trying to catch up with their American peers, but their offerings are still not as comprehensive or sophisticated. China’s top lithography system…