SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp)
China's leading foundry, DUV-constrained at 7nm
SMIC is China's largest and most advanced foundry and the linchpin of Beijing's semiconductor self-sufficiency drive. Cut off from EUV lithography by US and Dutch export controls, it produces 7nm-class (N+2) chips using multi-patterned DUV, fabricating Huawei's Ascend AI accelerators and Kirin SoCs at low yield and high cost. It is central to China's attempt to build a domestic AI hardware stack independent of Nvidia and TSMC, but is capacity- and yield-constrained without EUV.
Leading node
~7nm via DUV multi-patterning (no EUV)
Key customer
Huawei (Ascend AI, Kirin)
Constraint
Blocked from EUV by export controls
How it fits the stack
SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) with what it depends on (above) and what it feeds (below). The figure renders as a crawlable diagram and upgrades to an interactive 3D graph as it scrolls into view.
SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) in the AI stack. SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) with its immediate upstream dependencies (top) and downstream dependents (bottom) in the AI value chain. Hover a node in 3D, or read the full relationships below.
Graph data (text) — 16 entities, 15 relationships
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —uses→ AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication)
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —uses→ NAURA Technology
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —depends on→ SMEE / SiCarrier lithography effort
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —uses→ SMIC N+2 (7nm-class, DUV)
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —depends on→ Tokyo Electron (TEL)
- Baidu Kunlun (Kunlunxin) —depends on→ SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp)
- Biren Technology —depends on→ SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp)
- Cambricon —depends on→ SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp)
- China AI Chip Market / H20 & Domestic Substitution —depends on→ SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp)
- Enflame (Suiyuan) —depends on→ SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp)
- Moore Threads —depends on→ SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp)
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —partners with→ JCET (advanced packaging)
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —designs→ HiSilicon (Huawei)
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —invests in→ China (industrial policy & retaliation)
- SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp) —invests in→ National IC Fund (Big Fund III)
Depends on ↑ · 5
Context — capital, rivals, policy · · 7