Foreign media on the 16th cited four informed sources saying that China's Shanghai Huahong Group has developed advanced manufacturing technology that can be used to produce artificial intelligence (AI) chips, marking a significant breakthrough in Beijing's efforts to achieve technological self-sufficiency.
According to informed sources, Huahong Group's chip foundry subsidiary, Hua Li Microelectronics, is preparing a 7-nanometer chip manufacturing process at its Shanghai plant, which will make it the second Chinese chip manufacturer to master this advanced process technology. Huahong Group is China's second largest chip manufacturer.
Three of the sources said that Chinese tech giant Huawei has been working with Huahong Group to develop the 7nm process technology.
Previously, in February, foreign media quoted Nikkei News as reporting that SMIC and several chipmakers associated with Huawei are expanding or planning to launch chip production using their current most advanced technologies, including 7nm and even 5nm processes.
The report indicated that this push to expand advanced chip production is to meet China's growing demand for AI computing infrastructure.
Bloomberg cited sources last December, reporting that Chinese policymakers are planning a funding support project totaling between 200 billion and 500 billion yuan (114.2 billion to 285.4 billion ringgit) to support domestic chip manufacturing and reduce reliance on foreign chipmakers such as Nvidia.