[Apple Shockwave](32) "China Semiconductors, Beyond 7nm to 2nm Possible"... Potential Is a 'Spear That Pierces the Shield'

TSMC Morris Chang Focuses on Securing Top Technical Talent
Secures Best Experts Including 'Father of FinFET' and 'Six Knights'
China's SMIC Gathers TSMC Personnel to Build Self-Reliance
Experts Say "SMIC Will Produce 2nm Semiconductors"

Editor's Note[Apple Shockwave] is a content series that examines the upheaval caused by Apple entering the semiconductor market. You might wonder why Apple is involved in semiconductors. Apple is no longer just a company that makes smartphones and computers. After long efforts starting from its founder, the late Steve Jobs, Apple has designed world-class semiconductors used in mobile devices. If Intel was the leader in the PC era, Apple has become the top predator in the mobile era semiconductor ecosystem. Amid the global semiconductor supply chain crisis and massive investments in semiconductor production facilities, we will carefully examine the upheaval and prospects in the semiconductor market brought about by Apple Silicon to broaden our readers' insights. Apple Shockwave will visit readers every Saturday. After more than 40 installments, it will be published as a book.

"China can also succeed in 2-nanometer semiconductors."

Chinese foundry company SMIC has successfully overcome U.S. regulations and achieved a 7-nanometer process. A semiconductor industry insider’s prediction about this was shocking. They had said even 7-nanometer was impossible, so 2-nanometer? Is that really possible? Although they added the caveat that it would take time, the analysis was that it is indeed possible.

He diagnosed that the obsession of the Chinese government and Communist Party with nurturing the semiconductor industry, massive financial support, and the scouting of Chinese semiconductor talents scattered overseas are the foundation for the development of China’s semiconductor industry.

He was not the only one to predict China’s semiconductor advance. Lin Benjen, an expert in lithography and one of the "Six Knights" who led TSMC’s early technological development, also predicted that SMIC would succeed in the 5-nanometer process.

The economics and performance of the latest sub-7-nanometer chips produced without extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography are another matter. This is something only possible because it is China. Morris Chang gave Taiwan a "semiconductor shield," but handed China a spear to pierce that shield. This is the butterfly effect born from semiconductor talent migration.

TSMC and SMIC’s technological development was possible because of active talent recruitment. The lineage of personnel from TSMC to SMIC actually originated from Morris Chang’s bold investments. SMIC blatantly scouted TSMC personnel.

The argument that the lack of ASML’s EUV lithography machines means huge costs are involved is meaningless. China’s current goal is not to produce semiconductors cheaply. It is important to demonstrate that they can produce semiconductors that the U.S. tried to block, even if it means paying a high price. It is like the cost not being an issue in developing a nuclear bomb.

Among the "big three" semiconductor foundries, U.S. Intel announced its first 7-nanometer process mobile CPU, "Meteor Lake," on the 19th (local time). Meteor Lake is Intel’s mobile CPU. It is a "masterpiece" that Intel, which had been losing to AMD, put great effort into. Meteor Lake will be sold starting this December. Huawei Mate 60 Pro, which uses the Kirin 9000S produced with SMIC’s 7-nanometer process, is already on sale.

Although there have been many sacrifices, it is clear that SMIC produced 7-nanometer process chips ahead of Intel.

Morris Chang’s Desire for Talent... Even the Father of FinFET Went to TSMC

As previously reported by Apple Shockwave, Morris Chang is not considered a semiconductor design expert. Chang is an expert in semiconductor manufacturing processes from the transistor era. He raised the yield of IBM transistor supplies from about 10% to 20%. Naturally, Chang has little connection to patents related to semiconductor design in the microprocessor era.

Instead, Chang foresaw the future of a new industry called "foundry" and showed insight in securing talent.

An industry insider explained, "A manager does not have to be the best engineer. Steve Jobs of Apple and Morris Chang of TSMC were not the best engineers, but they combined management skills to reach the top."

Chang instinctively knew that securing talent was the future of TSMC. Under his leadership, people known as the "Six Knights" of TSMC gradually joined the company: Chang Shangyi, Liang Mengsong, Sun Wencheng, Lin Benjen, Yu Jinhua, and Yang Guanglei. Among them, Liang Mengsong, Chang Shangyi, and Yang Guanglei have worked or are still working at SMIC.

Articles of the six TSMC members. From the left: Lin Benjian, Yang Guanglei, Jian Shangyi, Sun Yuancheng, Liang Mengsong, Yu Zhenhua

The pinnacle of Chang’s talent recruitment was not these individuals. Chenming Hu, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, still holds the title of TSMC Chair Professor.

Professor Hu is called the "Father of FinFET" in the U.S. semiconductor industry. He led the emergence of sub-100-nanometer semiconductors through FinFET. Hu did not develop FinFET technology alone. He brought to the surface the FinFET technology attempted by Japanese engineers. The term "FinFET" was also coined by Professor Hu.

In 2016, Hu received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from U.S. President Barack Obama for his achievements in FinFET development. The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is the highest honor awarded by the U.S. government to scientists, engineers, and inventors.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) awarded Professor Hu the Medal of Honor in 2020. The IEEE Medal of Honor has been awarded to the top talents in electrical and electronic fields. In the semiconductor field, recipients include William Shockley, Jack Kilby, Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, Robert Noyce, and Morris Chang. Professor Hu stood shoulder to shoulder with these distinguished semiconductor pioneers.

Professor Chenming Hu and former U.S. President Barack Obama. Photo by UC Berkeley University website

Professor Hu completed a FinFET prototype in 1999 with funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He did not file patents related to FinFET. He explained the reason for not filing patents as follows.

"We decided not to file patents on FinFET. We want FinFET to become the mainstream semiconductor structure in the future."

Although Hu did not file FinFET patents, he made an unexpected decision. In 2001, he requested a three-year leave of absence from the university. He went to TSMC, where he was appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Previously, Hu had worked at National Semiconductor near the university during a one-year sabbatical, but taking a three-year leave to go to Taiwan was unexpected.

At that time, TSMC already had the giant Chang Shangyi. Chang, originally from Texas Instruments (TI) and HP, returned alone to Taiwan in 1997, leaving his family in the U.S., and joined TSMC. Known as "Papa Chang," he worked as Vice President of R&D and led TSMC’s technological development. Chang also recruited Sun Wencheng, who was in charge of TSMC’s micro-patterning technology, and lithography expert Lin Benjen from IBM.

Chang Shangyi and Professor Hu were also alumni of the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University. The two reunited in Taiwan after leaving Silicon Valley and rose as TSMC’s dual leaders through cooperation rather than competition.

Hu’s invitation to TSMC is known to have been led by Morris Chang. Chang put special effort into recruiting top talent, reportedly even making three visits to persuade them. In 1999, when Hu announced FinFET, he was also given the title of TSMC Chair Professor at UC Berkeley.

While working as CTO, Hu is said to have transferred FinFET technology to TSMC. During Hu’s tenure at TSMC, Lee Jong-ho, then a professor at Wonkwang University and now Minister of Science and ICT, applied for a patent on bulk FinFET technology that complemented the problems of FinFET technology devised by Hu’s team.

Hu’s 2009 book "Modern Semiconductor Device Engineering," compiled from his undergraduate lecture materials, is used as a textbook in domestic universities. One of the translators of this book is Minister Lee. In the translator’s preface, Lee expressed, "I hope you find great pleasure in Professor Hu’s expert explanations."

Professor Chen Minghu's book, Modern Semiconductor Device Engineering. Minister of Science and Technology Jongho Lee participated as the translator.

According to the industry, Hu devoted himself to transferring FinFET technology while working at TSMC. TSMC directly secured technology from the "Father of FinFET." The fact that Chang recruited Hu, who had served as an advisor for several years after the emergence of FinFET technology, shows that TSMC recognized the importance of FinFET technology. Although TSMC lost the race to Intel in 2011 to be the first to use FinFET in production, TSMC ultimately won the FinFET competition.

Even now, Chinese-origin figures like Jensen Huang and Lisa Su dominate the semiconductor industry, but Chinese individuals were present in the early U.S. semiconductor industry and influenced their successors. Hu himself, while attending university in Taiwan in the 1960s, was inspired by visiting professor Frank Fang (a researcher at IBM Watson Research Center), who said, "In the future, TVs that can be hung on walls will appear because of semiconductors." Hu took this to heart and went abroad to study semiconductors. He also transferred technology for his hometown Taiwan.

Hu does not hesitate to name Morris Chang, founder of TSMC, as his hero. Perhaps this acknowledges Chang as a definite supporter of semiconductor technological development.

‘Father of FinFET’ Student Liang Mengsong

SMIC’s Liang Mengsong is also a student of Professor Hu. Hu supervised Liang’s doctoral dissertation in 1984. Several patents bear both their names. Their relationship at UC Berkeley continued at TSMC. When Hu was CTO at TSMC, Liang surprised the world by developing a 130-nanometer process using copper.

Yang Guanglei, one of the "Six Knights" of TSMC, recently said at a semiconductor event in Taiwan about Liang Mengsong, "Whether working at Samsung or SMIC, he devoted his heart and soul to his work." This dedication suggests that SMIC’s independent success in the 7-nanometer process despite U.S. pressure can be inferred.

Yang Guanglei also worked at TSMC and SMIC and recently started working as a consultant for Intel. It remains to be seen whether he will now act as Intel’s agent and turn his blade against TSMC.