美國和歐洲對中國湧入傳統芯片領域日益感到震驚 (2/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

US, Europe Growing Alarmed by China’s Rush into Legacy Chips (2/2)

Jenny Leonard, Ian King and Alberto Nardelli

Tue, August 1, 2023 at 2:36 a.m. PDT

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“The United States and its partners should be on guard to mitigate nonmarket behavior by China’s emerging semiconductor firms,” researchers Robert Daly and Matthew Turpin wrote in a recent essay for the Hoover Institution think tank at Stanford University. “Over time, it could create new US or partner dependencies on China-based supply chains that do not exist today, impinging on US strategic autonomy.”

The importance of legacy chips was highlighted by supply shocks that roiled companies at the height of the Covid pandemic, including Apple Inc. and carmakers. Chip shortages cost businesses hundreds of billions of dollars in lost sales. Simple components, such as power management circuits, are essential for products like smartphones and electric vehicles, as well as military gear like missiles and radar.

The US and Europe are trying to build up their own domestic chip production to decrease reliance on Asia. Governments have set aside public money to support local factories, including the Biden administration’s $52 billion for the CHIPS and Science Act.

But domestic producers may be reluctant to invest in facilities that will have to compete with heavily subsidized Chinese plants. The Biden administration and its allies are gauging the willingness of Western companies to invest in such projects before they decide what action to take.

While the US rules introduced last October slowed down China’s development of advanced chipmaking capabilities, they left largely untouched the country’s ability to use techniques older than 14-nanometers. That has led Chinese firms to construct new plants faster than anywhere else in the world. They are forecast to build 26 fabs through 2026 that use 200-millimeter and 300-mm wafers, according to the trade group SEMI. That compares with 16 fabs for the Americas.

Heavy investments have allowed Chinese companies to keep supplying the West, despite rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. China’s chipmaking champion, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., got about 20% of last year’s sales from US-based clients, including Qualcomm Inc., despite being blacklisted by the American government.

“When you think about electrification of mobility, think about the energy transition, the IoT in the industrial space, the roll-out of the telecommunication infrastructure, battery technology, that’s all — that’s the sweet spot of mid-critical and mature semiconductor,” Peter Wennink, chief executive officer of Dutch chipmaking equipment supplier ASML Holding NV, told analysts in mid-July. “And that’s where China without any exception is leading.”

--With assistance from Jillian Deutsch, Gao Yuan, Jane Pong, Katharina Rosskopf and Peter Elstrom.

(Updates with EU’s comment from the fifth paragraph)

Translation

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研究人員Robert Daly 和Matthew Turpin 最近在斯坦福大學胡佛研究所智囊團的一篇文章中寫道： “美國及其合作夥伴應該保持警惕，以減輕中國新興半導體公司的非市場行為” 。 “隨著時間的推移，這可能會導致美國或合作夥伴對中國供應鏈產生新的依賴而衝擊美國的戰略自主性。而這種依賴目前並不存在” 。

在新冠疫情最嚴重的時期，供應衝擊令包括蘋果公司和汽車製造商在內的公司陷入困境，這突顯了傳統芯片的重要性。 芯片短缺給企業造成了數千億美元的銷售損失。 一些簡單組件例如電源管理電路, 對於智能手機和電動汽車等產品以及對導彈和雷達等軍事裝備至關重要。

美國和歐洲正試圖建立自己的國內芯片生產，以減少對亞洲的依賴。 各國政府已撥出公共資金支持當地工廠，其中包括拜登政府為 CHIPS案撥款 520 億美元和定立科學法。

但國內生產商可能不願意投資那些必須與接受大量補貼的中國工廠競爭的設施。 拜登政府及其盟友正在衡量西方公司投資此類項目的意願，然後再決定採取什麼行動。

儘管美國去年 10 月出台的規定減緩了中國先進芯片製造能力的發展，但基本上沒有影響該國使用 14 納米以上技術的能力。 這使得中國企業比世界其他任何地方都更快地建造新工廠。 據貿易組織 SEMI 稱，預計到 2026 年，他們將建造 26 座使用 200 毫米和 300 毫米晶圓的晶圓廠。 相比之下，美洲有 16 家晶圓廠。

儘管華盛頓和北京之間的緊張關係不斷加劇，但大量投資使得中國企業能夠繼續向西方供應產品。 儘管被美國政府列入黑名單，中國芯片製造冠軍中芯國際去年約20%的銷售額來自包括高通公司在內的美國客戶。

荷蘭芯片製造設備供應商ASML Holding NV 首席執行官Peter Wennink 於7 月中旬對分析師表示: “當你想到用電力產生移動能力時，請想想能源轉型、工業領域的物聯網、電信基礎設施的推出、電池技術，就是這些 - 這就是中臨界和成熟的半導體的最佳點”。 “這就是中國毫無例外地處於領先地位的地方。”

 So, US and European officials are concerned about China’s accelerated push into the production of older-generation semiconductors that are still essential throughout the global economy, these semiconductors are critical components for everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware. They worry Chinese companies could dump their legacy chips on global markets, driving foreign rivals out of business like in the solar industry. Let us wait and see how western countries will respond to this.