Welcome to the wechat subscription number of “Sina Technology”: techsina

Text / Zhang Jingbo

On May 27th, 1987, in front of Toshiba headquarters building in Japan, the alarm light flashed.

Accused by the United States of exporting CNC machine tools to the Soviets, the Japanese police agency was forced to seize two executives of Toshiba on its own territory.

This is a humiliating scene in the history of Japanese industry.

30 years later, when the Americans repeated their old tricks and tried to force the Chinese to obey, Huawei chose to stand stubbornly.

Since it was included in the list of entities by the United States four years ago, Huawei has fallen into the crisis of chip supply interruption.

Due to the lack of core, Huawei’s revenue fell sharply by 250 billion yuan in 2021, down nearly 30%.

Just when everyone was worried about it, on the official website of the State Intellectual Property Office, a Huawei patent application gave people a glimmer of dawn.

This is the Huawei chip stack packaging technology that has been circulating for a long time.

The so-called chip stacking is to package the originally separately packaged chips together with a new 3D packaging process through redesign and integration, so as to realize the performance of multiple chips with one chip.

For Huawei, whose high-end chips are cut off, this is undoubtedly a very realistic choice.

However, such a technical route has been ridiculed by many people in China.

Some people say that this is to pour two cups of 50 ℃ water together and turn them into 100 ℃ water. Some people say that this technology is completely impossible, that is, the self hi of “pollen”.

The disclosure of Huawei’s chip stacking patent has dispelled these doubts.

Not long ago, Guo Ping, the rotating chairman of Huawei, also said at the 2021 annual report press conference:

Using area for performance and stacking for performance makes the less advanced technology continue to make Huawei competitive in future products.

This is the first time Huawei has publicly confirmed chip stacking technology.

In fact, chip stacking is not Huawei’s unique secret, but a sign that the semiconductor industry has developed to a new stage.

The chip industry chain mainly includes three links: design, manufacturing and packaging.

Since Texas Instruments Engineer Jack Kirby developed the world’s first integrated circuit in 1958, the chip industry has moved in the direction of Moore’s law.

During this period, the number of transistors that can be accommodated on the integrated circuit has doubled approximately every 18 months.

However, with the transistor becoming smaller and smaller, the process continues to advance to 5 nm, 3 nm… Physically, it has been infinitely close to the atomic size (0.1 nm).

This means that it is difficult to break through the traditional technical route.

Facing the possible end of Moore’s law, including apple and Intel, technology giants all over the world are looking for a way out, and chip stacking is one of them.

For example, Apple’s latest M1 ultra chip encapsulates two M1 Max chips together.

Intel recently announced 3D stacked chip technology in an attempt to enhance computing power and regain its leading position in the industry within five years.

Unlike Intel and apple, Huawei’s development of chip stacking technology is more a helpless choice and stubborn effort under the dilemma that advanced technology is not available.

This effort began four years ago, or even earlier.

In Wuhan, south of Jiufeng 1st Road and west of Guanggu 7th Road, there is a small but “mysterious” land.

A few years ago, from Google maps, it was still a wasteland.

Today, a factory has been built here.

On the website of Wuhan natural resources and Planning Bureau, we found the purpose of this land, that is, plot a of Huawei Wuhan R & D and production project (phase II).

According to the announcement, Fab plant, Cub power station and PMD software factory are built here. Fab generally refers to wafer processing plant.

Three years ago, Huawei issued the first installment of medium-term notes in 2019. According to the prospectus, the company plans to invest 1.8 billion yuan in Wuhan to build Wuhan Hisilicon factory project.

This land is most likely Wuhan Hisilicon factory, which is also Huawei’s first chip factory in China.

Although the investment of 1.8 billion yuan is far from the factories of TSMC and Samsung, which are prone to tens of billions of dollars. In addition, according to the publicly reported information, the chips produced here are also mainly used in the field of communication, not mobile phones.

But for Huawei, this is the first step after all.

The outside world is also full of imagination about Huawei making chips. In June 2021, China’s Taiwan electronic times revealed that HUAWEI’s first wafer fab will be put into operation in stages from 2022.

On the Internet, the news about Huawei’s Tashan plan and Nanniwan plan was once rampant. These rumors were later denied by Huawei insiders.

The imagination of the outside world can be unrestrained, but the semiconductor industry chain is extremely complex, which has condensed the wisdom of all mankind for decades.

In addition to the existing system, it is difficult to rebuild a fully domestic production system from raw materials to equipment, which can never be completed in a short time.

Huawei has a clear understanding of this.

As early as 2019, when the United States began to sanction Huawei, Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with the media at the headquarters:

“It’s no good throwing money at chips, but mathematicians, physicists and chemists…”

In July 2020, after the United States cut off the road of Huawei OEM, Ren Zhengfei led the senior management team to visit four universities in Shanghai and Nanjing.

There, he once again stressed the importance of basic research.

Meanwhile, Huawei’s Shanghai Qingpu R & D base, with a total investment of more than 10 billion yuan, also started construction in 2019.

Semiconductor technology is not only cutting-edge, but also has a long industrial chain. Relying on Huawei alone, it is difficult to break through the technical barriers built by the United States for decades.

Therefore, Huawei broke the principle of not investing in any company and established Hubble investment in April 2019.

The mission of Hubble investment is to find potential start-ups in the semiconductor industry chain, help the industry chain grow and let them cultivate world-class quality.

The investment scope covers almost the whole semiconductor industry chain, from chip design and EDA software to equipment and materials.

According to the data of tianyancha, as of February 2022, Hubble investment had launched 77 investments and more than 60 invested enterprises.

These investments not only make up for

Welcome to the wechat subscription number of “Sina Technology”: techsina

Text / Zhang Jingbo

On May 27th, 1987, in front of Toshiba headquarters building in Japan, the alarm light flashed.

Accused by the United States of exporting CNC machine tools to the Soviets, the Japanese police agency was forced to seize two executives of Toshiba on its own territory.

This is a humiliating scene in the history of Japanese industry.

30 years later, when the Americans repeated their old tricks and tried to force the Chinese to obey, Huawei chose to stand stubbornly.

Since it was included in the list of entities by the United States four years ago, Huawei has fallen into the crisis of chip supply interruption.

Due to the lack of core, Huawei’s revenue fell sharply by 250 billion yuan in 2021, down nearly 30%.

Just when everyone was worried about it, on the official website of the State Intellectual Property Office, a Huawei patent application gave people a glimmer of dawn.

This is the Huawei chip stack packaging technology that has been circulating for a long time.

The so-called chip stacking is to package the originally separately packaged chips together with a new 3D packaging process through redesign and integration, so as to realize the performance of multiple chips with one chip.

For Huawei, whose high-end chips are cut off, this is undoubtedly a very realistic choice.

However, such a technical route has been ridiculed by many people in China.

Some people say that this is to pour two cups of 50 ℃ water together and turn them into 100 ℃ water. Some people say that this technology is completely impossible, that is, the self hi of “pollen”.

The disclosure of Huawei’s chip stacking patent has dispelled these doubts.

Not long ago, Guo Ping, the rotating chairman of Huawei, also said at the 2021 annual report press conference:

Using area for performance and stacking for performance makes the less advanced technology continue to make Huawei competitive in future products.

This is the first time Huawei has publicly confirmed chip stacking technology.

In fact, chip stacking is not Huawei’s unique secret, but a sign that the semiconductor industry has developed to a new stage.

The chip industry chain mainly includes three links: design, manufacturing and packaging.

Since Texas Instruments Engineer Jack Kirby developed the world’s first integrated circuit in 1958, the chip industry has moved in the direction of Moore’s law.

During this period, the number of transistors that can be accommodated on the integrated circuit has doubled approximately every 18 months.

However, with the transistor becoming smaller and smaller, the process continues to advance to 5 nm, 3 nm… Physically, it has been infinitely close to the atomic size (0.1 nm).

This means that it is difficult to break through the traditional technical route.

Facing the possible end of Moore’s law, including apple and Intel, technology giants all over the world are looking for a way out, and chip stacking is one of them.

For example, Apple’s latest M1 ultra chip encapsulates two M1 Max chips together.

Intel recently announced 3D stacked chip technology in an attempt to enhance computing power and regain its leading position in the industry within five years.

Unlike Intel and apple, Huawei’s development of chip stacking technology is more a helpless choice and stubborn effort under the dilemma that advanced technology is not available.

This effort began four years ago, or even earlier.

In Wuhan, south of Jiufeng 1st Road and west of Guanggu 7th Road, there is a small but “mysterious” land.

A few years ago, from Google maps, it was still a wasteland.

Today, a factory has been built here.

On the website of Wuhan natural resources and Planning Bureau, we found the purpose of this land, that is, plot a of Huawei Wuhan R & D and production project (phase II).

According to the announcement, Fab plant, Cub power station and PMD software factory are built here. Fab generally refers to wafer processing plant.

Three years ago, Huawei issued the first installment of medium-term notes in 2019. According to the prospectus, the company plans to invest 1.8 billion yuan in Wuhan to build Wuhan Hisilicon factory project.

This land is most likely Wuhan Hisilicon factory, which is also Huawei’s first chip factory in China.

Although the investment of 1.8 billion yuan is far from the factories of TSMC and Samsung, which are prone to tens of billions of dollars. In addition, according to the publicly reported information, the chips produced here are also mainly used in the field of communication, not mobile phones.

But for Huawei, this is the first step after all.

The outside world is also full of imagination about Huawei making chips. In June 2021, China’s Taiwan electronic times revealed that HUAWEI’s first wafer fab will be put into operation in stages from 2022.

On the Internet, the news about Huawei’s Tashan plan and Nanniwan plan was once rampant. These rumors were later denied by Huawei insiders.

The imagination of the outside world can be unrestrained, but the semiconductor industry chain is extremely complex, which has condensed the wisdom of all mankind for decades.

In addition to the existing system, it is difficult to rebuild a fully domestic production system from raw materials to equipment, which can never be completed in a short time.

Huawei has a clear understanding of this.

As early as 2019, when the United States began to sanction Huawei, Ren Zhengfei said in an interview with the media at the headquarters:

“It’s no good throwing money at chips, but mathematicians, physicists and chemists…”

In July 2020, after the United States cut off the road of Huawei OEM, Ren Zhengfei led the senior management team to visit four universities in Shanghai and Nanjing.

There, he once again stressed the importance of basic research.

Meanwhile, Huawei’s Shanghai Qingpu R & D base, with a total investment of more than 10 billion yuan, also started construction in 2019.

Semiconductor technology is not only cutting-edge, but also has a long industrial chain. Relying on Huawei alone, it is difficult to break through the technical barriers built by the United States for decades.

Therefore, Huawei broke the principle of not investing in any company and established Hubble investment in April 2019.

The mission of Hubble investment is to find potential start-ups in the semiconductor industry chain, help the industry chain grow and let them cultivate world-class quality.

The investment scope covers almost the whole semiconductor industry chain, from chip design and EDA software to equipment and materials.

According to the data of tianyancha, as of February 2022, Hubble investment had launched 77 investments and more than 60 invested enterprises.

These investments not only make up for