Chinese boffins call for research on ‘countermeasures’ to US chip bans

China’s Academy of Science has offered a blueprint to create a semiconductor industry that circumvents the USA’s bans on exports of technology to the Middle Kingdom. In an article from the Proceedings of the Chinese Academy of Sciences titled “Strengthening the construction of basic semiconductor capabilities and lighting the …

[Lil Endian]

Protected Intellectual Property

I doubt many would dispute China's flagrant flouting of others' IP for their own uses. So why not just rip off existing designs here?

Conspiratorially: These designs are riddled with backdoors not controlled by us, we need our own backdoors!

Evidentially: These designs are riddled with security holes and other bugs. We need our own backdoors security holes. I mean "no security holes"!

[IGotOut]

Re: Protected Intellectual Property

Because there are a multitude of countries (think BRICS) that would have no issues buying Chinese gear, in fact would buy it BECAUSE it's not US / Euro, so in order to get the likes of the WTO not block imports into those countries, they have to play ball

[Lil Endian]

Re: Protected Intellectual Property

I'm sure China could make a lot of money by exports, but that's not ostensibly the paramount objective.

...semiconductor self-reliance and self-improvement...

So, not arguing, if exports are considered.

[prh99]

So more espionage then at universities etc and rushing to patent it before the inventors can.

[Anonymous Coward]

This has the potential to blow up in America's face.

The US is trying to make sure China can't get hold of sub 10nm fabrication equipment like EUV lithography systems. If I were China I'd be frantically looking into the next gen. I see a potential for China to corner the market in the 1nm class.

[Pascal Monett]

Re: I see a potential for China to corner the market in the 1nm class

I don't think it'll be that simple.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This has the potential to blow up in America's face.

Anyone believing this is a communist party stooge. China is incapable of producing any of the equipment or software necessary to hit 7nm consistently, let alone more modern process nodes. For all the clowns downvoting anything critical of China, you get to watch your beloved dictatorship crash and burn. Hope you have your copium on hand.

[Fenton]

Just invade Taiwan

This is the scary thing. They just need to invade Taiwan and they can get their hands on all those nice TMSC fabs and hold the west to ransom

[Black Label1]

Re: Just invade Taiwan

I heard some military men advised Taiwan at those TSMC fabs to booby-trap their machines with a lot of explosives.

Dunno if it was properly done, but there is a risk.

Some private companies in China are pretty much advanced in the lithography business. I would put them together with scientists and see new equipment coming out soon.

[Anonymous Coward]

How to get funding

When you're NASA and you want funds to build a moon ship, you tell the government it will beat the Russians. When you're CAS and you want funds to do chip research, you tell the government it will beat the Americans. Simple.

[DrXym]

And that's why they're so into RISC-V

They want independence from ARM even if RISC-V is years behind in terms of performance & tools. I assume they're hoping that it will obtain critical mass at some point and start being a viable competitor.

[amanfromMars 1]

Take Your Pick, Feted or Fettered, East for Exotic Feasting, West for Wicked Phishing ‽ .

The obvious and increasingly more apparent problem in the West is that new ground breaking technology/applications/methodologies are not encouraged until status quo interests assume and presume leadership and remote ownership/official secret act presumptive leverage of direction and engagement parameters in order to maintain and sustain legacy systems rather than empower new dynasties.Such contrived captive regulation is not conducive to progress and novel exciting free market development of future pioneering entrepreneurship.

[martinusher]

Its a global industry

TSMC's chairman recently remarked that the US/China tensions are creating problems throughout the entire semiconductor industry. Since the 'tensions' are entirely a product of US geopolitics -- we're trying to inhibit, if not destroy completely, Chinese semiconductor capability its clear that the sanctions and restrictions will never stop because as soon as China overcomes an obstacle we're just going to throw up another in their path. The end result is obvious -- sooner or later we'll run out of things to restrict and/or sanction, the Chinese and their partners will have overcome the problems and we'll be left out in the cold.

[amanfromMars 1]

White man speak with forked tongue, Kemosabe, .... and ends up FCUKd

The end result is obvious -- sooner or later we'll run out of things to restrict and/or sanction, the Chinese and their partners will have overcome the problems and we'll be left out in the cold. ..... martinusher

There are those who realise that effective/ineffective tipping point, which is no longer able to enable and provide a healthy return with restrictions and sanctions, has already been for some time now, passed and long gone, and now they enjoy and deploy the freedoms which prior enslavements by renegade and rogue parties/hostile natives and dumb many faced enemies and frenemies previously tried to deny them.

And now they would remedy and right such as were wilful wrongs wrought deliberately against them.

And who would blame them and declare such corrective ACTivity unreasonable?

[Tron]

Own your playing field and you make your own rules.

If China remained part of a single, globalised economy it would increasingly have to play by the rules. Once the US divide the world between the bits they control and the bits China controls, China can ignore Western patent portfolios and rip off whatever IP it wants. The US will set Chinese tech free by locking it out of the West. This is not the brightest move, but US politicians are not the brightest bunnies in the hutch. GAFA and the NSA will also lose access to Chinese-leaning systems when Cold War 2 kicks in and the Chinese replace Western stuff with home grown stuff.