In an official statement distributed this Friday, SMIC confirmed that postponed the start of mass production of chips at its new factory in Beijing.
According to the company, this is happening due to “delay in the supply of machines”. That is, a direct result of the sanctions imposed by the US government.
According to the Department of Commerce, SMIC can only receive machines to assemble 28 nm chips. For 14 or 16 nm chips, a special license is required, and any company is prohibited from selling equipment that allows the assembly of 10 nm chips or less.
Market analysts believe that the US should take time to authorize the shipment of machines to SMIC, since the equipment used for 14 nm chips can be adapted to produce 28 nm chips.
Still, SMIC has invested in “homemade machines” produced by local companies such as AMEC, Kingsemi or Naura. Many of them still have American employees and this is also an obstacle to the agile delivery of equipment.
These employees need special authorization to continue working or providing services to Chinese companies.
Despite the recent problems caused by the USA, SMIC took advantage of the announcement to announce the construction of three new factories for the production of chips in the 28 nm process. The intention is to meet the growing demand for basic chips.
