《TAIPEI TIMES》 China is 10 years behind Taiwan on chips: NSTC

SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

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In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co （TSMC） by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council （NSTC） Minister Wu Cheng-wen （吳誠文） said yesterday.

Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi （吳沛憶） about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years.

She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate assessment.

“I actually have doubts over the report. I believe TSMC should be at least 10 years ahead, particularly now it has advanced to produce chips of 2 nanometers,” Wu Cheng-wen said.

Based on TSMC’s earnings report released in July, the research and development of 2-nanometer chips has proceeded smoothly, with devices equipped with 2-nanometer chips producing expected or better-than-expected yield performances.

Mass production of 2-nanometer chips would be launched next year as scheduled, the company said.

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently announced that it has developed a deep ultraviolet lithography system that enables it to produce chips on a scale as small as 8 nanometers.

A Deutsche Welle report said that Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Co might be able to manufacture chips using 9 nanometer technology as it has applied for a series of extreme ultraviolet lithography-related patents from the China National Intellectual Property Administration.

Meanwhile, other lawmakers inquired about Taiwan’s dramatic fall in the computing power world ranking Top500 List.

The computing power of super computer Taiwania 2 has fallen to No. 106 this year from No. 20 in 2017.

Wu Cheng-wen said that Taiwan used to focus on the development of hardware needed for artificial technology, but it is time to focus on AI applications, which would help expand the nation’s computing power.

Taiwan’s computing power in the public sector is about 19 petaflops, which would gradually increase in the next few years, he said.

A one petaflop computer system is capable of performing one quadrillion floating-point operations per second. One quadrillion is a thousand trillion.

“We hope to enter at least the top 30 in the world,” he said.

Based on a plan laid out by the NSTC, it is expected to complete the construction of 280 petaflops of computing power in 2028, and the target is to increase to 480 petaflops in 2029, he said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES