Samsung is not to be outdone, saying that it will "invest more than 500 million dollars in the cost control of new chips", and it is expected that GAAFET 3nm, which is more advanced than FinFET, will be adopted on a large scale in 2022. Qualcomm and Apple followed closely, and a battle for the right to speak technology began.
Judging from the actions of these technology giants, they obviously prefer subminiature chips. After all, reducing power consumption, increasing capacity and reducing the package size of chips have become the trend of the electronic industry. However, problems also follow. Too obsessed with "slimming" chips may be overthrown because the technology is not up to standard.
Foreign media such as 9to5Ma revealed that users seem to be not very cold about iPhone 12, and only found problems when they experienced it. IPhone 12 doesn't have enough time to wait for power. One night, the battery will directly lose 20% to 40% of its charge. Although the performance of iPhone 12 has been greatly improved compared with before, and the latest chips are adopted, the experience is really flattering. By the way, Samsung's Snapdragon 888 has the same problem.
Insiders infer that the 5nm process is not mature and should not be widely promoted at present. The experiences of Samsung, Qualcomm and Apple illustrate the fact that the chip was "overturned" at a very young age, and it is difficult to achieve further breakthroughs in technology. Why such a problem occurs can be explained by professional theory.
According to Moore's law, every 18 months, the number of transistors will double, and the performance of the chip will also double. However, due to the current mask aligner technology, it is more and more difficult to miniaturize transistors. In addition, the transistor is too small, the stability of the chip can not be guaranteed, and it is easy to heat up, which in turn affects the service life of the chip.
You're welcome to say that 5nm is a watershed in the development of chips. Electronic giants such as Samsung and Qualcomm temporarily stop at this obstacle, which helps those enterprises that are temporarily behind to catch up. But we must pay attention to a basic fact: chip research and development is a comprehensive project, involving electronics, information, machinery, materials science and other fields, and it is unrealistic to achieve a breakthrough in a short time.
It should be noted that the ban on sales by ASML, a leading enterprise in mask aligner, is also affecting the improvement of chip technology.
As we all know, a mask aligner in ASML is worth hundreds of millions of euros. Even at this sky-high price, there are endless queues to get the goods. But it only deals with companies like Apple, Samsung and TSMC. It is almost impossible for a third party to buy it. This shows that the west has an absolute right to speak in the field of chips, and they have set up various industry barriers.
Some netizens once thought that countries with weak chips could find ways to import mask aligner from Dutch companies and then copy it in Kaifeng. That's true, but it's very difficult to practice. ASML's high-end products have their own monitoring and alarm systems. If the core components are forcibly opened without authorization, the self-destruction program may be triggered. This is not a joke, it has become an unknown secret in the field of chips.
In this way, it is not easy to overtake in the corner of the chip field. Fortunately, the research and development of 5nm chips has encountered bottlenecks, giving them a chance to catch up. We don't want to temporarily reach the level of 5nm, but at least we should tie the research and development speed of companies such as Samsung. After all, the accumulation of technology is a long-term process, haste makes waste.
Those keyboard players who shout "catch up with the beauty of the Premier League" every day should repent: Samsung and other companies are the capital of South Korea's prosperity. If they lose their dominant position and give up the high-end market, then South Korea is likely to eat dirt. It is unrealistic to expect others to wait for you to catch up. There are no conditions for reverse imitation in mask aligner, so Huashan has a way: honestly engage in basic research and development.