Re:Japan Bets $67B to Become a Global Chip Powerhouse Once A...
by baal80spam on Wednesday February 21, 2024 @05:38AM
(#39452207)
Reading Chris Miller's Chip War allowed me to realise how mind-bogglingly complicated the chip making process is.
So China can glean some of the process, but, because the design, assembly, and setup of the machines is done by western contractors, they're effectively locked out of 'the hard part'. Not to say they can't learn it, it's just not nearly as trivial as the rest of the things they clone.
Also worth noting that, many of the chinese clones are made in the same plants as the orignals, sometimes in parallel to the originals as to benefit from existing successful processes that were already in place, but using cheaper materials, less QC, different branding, etc.
It's actually quite impressive engineering really, they can often reduce part count and cost significantly while shipping a functional, albeit inferior, product. Chip fabs don't work in that model though, so, that presents an additional difficulty.