Most people think chip wars are about EUV, 3nm [3 nanometers, the size of a single transistor on a chip], and NVIDIA. That’s yesterday’s game. China’s playing on a different board now: Post-Silicon Computing.
My point is not about tech, not primarily. It’s about China. While the U.S. was busy making its rich people richer (when you own the government, you can make it dance to your tune), China was making China great again.
Wait a minute tj; China controlled by a communist party dictatorship.
Well yes. But. There is one man at the helm. Xi. And he has chosen to make China great again via technological advances.
What do you think?
A potential head wind by US economic warfare.
China is facing an acute shortage of copper as US trade measures begin to disrupt the global flow of industrial metals, according to commodity trader Mercuria. The group warned that the copper market is experiencing one of the “greatest tightening shocks” in its history, as traders and manufacturers race to secure material ahead of anticipated tariff escalation.
ASML is the only company that makes EUV equipment. They already have the physics verified for the next two technologies while China is 2-4 process nodes behind the oldest EUV.
Intel (and soon TSMC) is already testing the EUV high NA (numerical aperture) which starts at ~2 nm and will go 2 or 3 process nodes after that (to the early 2030s). The NA goes from .33 to .55 and produces chips about 3x the density.
After that Hyper NA EUV increases the NA to .75 and maybe higher.
ASML is Dutch, but much of the supporting equipment is made by other US and Japanese companies…not China.
Photonics. I know little about these except that Intel has been a leader in this research for 20 years. And Global Foundries (New York) is also heavily invested in this.
A ChatGPT list of top companies in Neuromorphics:
Intel Corporation: Known for its Intel Labs and the Intel Neuromorphic Research Community (INRC), Intel is a major player in neuromorphic computing
IBM Corporation: IBM focuses on energy-efficient computing inspired by the brain, contributing significantly to next-generation AI
Qualcomm Incorporated: Qualcomm’s Zeroth platform is designed for brain-inspired computing, enhancing device cognition
BrainChip Holdings Ltd.: Specializes in ultra-low power neuromorphic computing solutions suitable for edge computing applications
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.: Samsung is involved in developing neuromorphic chips for advanced AI processing
NVIDIA Corporation: Known for its AI and GPU technologies, NVIDIA is also exploring neuromorphic computing
General Vision Inc.: Provides neuromorphic computing solutions for various applications
STMicroelectronics N.V.: Engages in developing neuromorphic chips for diverse applications
Infinera Corporation: Focuses on neuromorphic computing for high-performance applications
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.: Huawei’s Ascend series supports AI processing and edge computing
I’m sure China has many more than just #10 on this list, but it’s not like they are working on this and US (and other countries) are not working on this
Quantum computers, when/if they arrive in a decade or two don’t replace silicon chips. They add to them in massive, super cooled data centers. Phones, laptops, desktops, car computers and zillions of consumer electronic devices will still be using something closer to silicon chips and not quantum computers.
Not only do they have to get them to reliably work and be efficient, they have to compete on tasks they are good at with the server class chips that are a decade or two down the road.
