Huawei and SMIC quietly rolled out a new Kirin 9000C processor.

Chinese foundry SMIC may have broken the 5nm process barrier, as evidenced by a new Huawei laptop listed with an advanced chip with 5nm manufacturing tech — a feat previously thought impossible due to U.S sanctions.

  • TheModerateTankie [any]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I just read an article about how the only reason they got to 7nm was because they were abusing their less advanced methods by being willing to make a ton of faulty chips for every good one, and that it was incredibly inefficient and only feasible because of STATE INTERVENTION which is a free-market cheat code. Basically the human-wave attack propaganda but for microprocessors, lol.

    Seems like they figured some things out on their own.

    • edge [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      They can’t imagine a mode of production centered on actually producing things instead of just making money.

    • RyanGosling [none/use name]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I just read an article about how the only reason they got to 7nm was because they were abusing their less advanced methods by being willing to make a ton of faulty chips for every good one

      So… research and development?

    • macerated_baby_presidents [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      lol. everyone knows that US processor production is lossy too. They just turn off the buggy sectors and sell it as an i5 instead of an i7 or whatever.

      • TheCaconym [any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Exactly right; IIRC just how many of the produced chips are actually functional is systematically kept secret by manufacturers, too, but there are a lot of duds.

    • Hexbollah [he/him, any]
      ·
      1 year ago

      You always have low yield when developing new processes. You can't make a 7nm process by just running 14nm at high throughput/low yield. This is just R&D and process development.

      • StellarTabi [none/use name]
        ·
        1 year ago

        The fact they didn't do it perfectly and better on their first try is because their ideology told them not to.

    • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      Basically the human-wave attack propaganda but for microprocessors, lol.

      The one with the rifle shoots. The one without zero follows. When the one with the rifle is killed, the one following zero picks up the rifle and shoots.

    • Dessa [she/her]
      ·
      1 year ago

      STATE INTERVENTION ... is a free-market cheat code

      They're speedrunning chip development by using exploits the capitalists didn't intend. Sure, this looks impressive, but I only respect glitchless runs