{"version":1,"tree":{"n":"html","c":[{"n":"head","x":"\n ","l":"\n ","c":[{"n":"title","x":"Desconocido","l":"\n \n "},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../stylesheet.css"]]},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../page_styles.css"]]}]},{"n":"body","a":[["class","calibre"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"| ","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Siguiente","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articlenextlink"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_12/article_2/index_u62.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_12/index_u18.html\", \"frag\": \"article_1\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_12\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Anterior","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articleprevlink"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_12/article_0/index_u92.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"Silicon surprise ","a":[["class","calibre8"]]},{"n":"h1","x":"Huawei and other Chinese chip firms are catching up fast","a":[["class","calibre9"]]},{"n":"div","x":"But they still depend on America and its allies in a few vital areas","a":[["class","calibre19"]]},{"n":"p","x":"may. 08, 2025 01:49 | Shanghai","a":[["class","calibre10"]]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"img","a":[["src","images/img1_u38.jpg"],["title","An employee packages semiconductor power devices for export at a semiconductor manufacturing enterprise. "],["class","calibre3"],["data-calibre-src","feed_12/article_1/images/img1_u38.jpg"]]}]},{"n":"div","x":"Processing time","a":[["class","calibre11"]]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"A","l":" ","a":[["data-caps","initial"],["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"span","x":"WAVE OF","l":" optimism has lately swept through China’s chip industry. Share traders in Shanghai joke that Cambricon, a local firm, not only offers a substitute for Nvidia’s processors, but for its stock, too. Although the Chinese semiconductor firm is worth but a fraction of its giant American rival, its share price has rocketed by 350% over the past year, around 15 times as much as Nvidia’s.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"In recent years America has tried to halt the flow of advanced chips and chipmaking tools to China in the hope of stymieing its progress in artificial intelligence (","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":"). Last month Nvidia was, in effect, barred from selling its ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"H","l":"20 chip there, which it had developed in response to previous rules. The Trump administration plans to rescind a complicated export-licensing regime that was due to come into force on May 15th. But whatever replaces it—most likely a patchwork of bilateral deals and other measures—will not help China.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Despite America’s efforts to hold it back, however, Chinese ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":" continues to power ahead. At least for the time being, the country’s ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":" labs do not appear to be suffering from a shortage of chips. Internet giants such as Alibaba and Tencent are building vast numbers of ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":" data centres, apparently unimpeded.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"This seemingly ample supply is partly the result of breakthroughs earlier this year at DeepSeek, an ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":" startup, that significantly lowered the computing power needed for the technology, thus allowing firms to get by with fewer advanced chips. And it is partly the result of a ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"a","x":"shadowy supply chain·","l":" that allows Chinese customers to continue getting their hands on Nvidia’s gear despite American sanctions.","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","nofollow"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_12/article_0/index_u92.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Yet China’s own chipmakers are also accomplishing feats that seemed out of reach just a few years ago. Huawei, a Chinese tech giant, has impressed analysts with the new CloudMatrix chip cluster it began delivering last month. By stitching together 384 of its Ascend ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":" chips using advanced networking technology, it is reportedly able to outperform Nvidia’s popular ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"NVL","l":"72 cluster, though it consumes more power, too. Could China in time shake off its dependence on foreign semiconductor technology altogether?","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Huawei is not the only Chinese chip firm turning heads. A handful of other local companies that design semiconductors have emerged over the past year with chips meant to replace Nvidia’s ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"A","l":"100, the ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":" workhorse that America barred sales of to China in late 2022. Cambricon is said to be delivering one of these substitutes to customers already. Hygon, another local chipmaker, has just finished testing an Nvidia alternative and is expected to start delivery in the next few months.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"China is also making progress in the high-bandwidth memory (","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"HBM","l":") units that are incorporated into ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"AI","l":" processors like Nvidia’s. At present that market is dominated by ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"SK","l":" Hynix of South Korea; other big producers include Samsung, another South Korean firm, and Micron, an American one. In December America began restricting ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"HBM","l":" sales to China. But ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"CXMT","l":", a company based in the city of Hefei, is thought to be quickly catching up in the technology.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Firms that produce chipmaking equipment are achieving breakthroughs, too. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"AMEC","l":", one such company, recently unveiled an etching tool for ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"NAND","l":" memory chips. Lam Research, an American firm, had previously held a monopoly for that kit, notes Lin Qingyuan of Bernstein, a broker. Naura, another Chinese firm, has developed a technique for layering silicon-germanium onto chip wafers—a business long dominated by Applied Materials, an American competitor. “These types of developments may come faster than most imagined,” says Mr Lin.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"h4","x":"Semi-independent","a":[["class","calibre15"]]},{"n":"p","x":"China’s chip industry still has some way to go. Most of the companies buying locally made chips are believed to be state-owned enterprises. Huawei’s latest ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"AI ","l":"processor, called the Ascend 910","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"C","l":", still contains many components supplied by foreign firms, according to SemiAnalysis, a consultancy. China lacks a domestic alternative to the cutting-edge lithography tools produced by ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"ASML","l":", a Dutch company. And it is still unable to manufacture the most advanced chips. ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"TSMC","l":", a Taiwanese firm miles ahead in that business, has been banned by America from making these for China. That leaves the country’s chip designers reliant on ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"SMIC","l":", a state-owned foundry—though SemiAnalysis has reported that Huawei continues to dodge sanctions by purchasing wafers made by ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"TSMC","l":" via a third company. (Huawei and ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"TSMC ","l":"deny the claim.)","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Another problem for China is the software used by coders to program chips. Nvidia’s platform, called ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"CUDA","l":", is still by far the best in the world. Nearly all ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"AI ","l":"developers learn how to use it. And it works only with Nvidia’s chips. Switching to an alternative is costly, because it pulls developers out of an enormous network of fellow users that can help solve problems. Huawei has created a substitute for ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"CUDA","l":", called ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"CANN","l":", which coders can use for its Ascend chips. But the software is years behind Nvidia’s, and it is riddled with bugs. It has reportedly been met with apathy by local techies.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Huawei has beaten the odds before, and it may well do the same again with ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"CANN","l":". Before American sanctions, the Chinese government’s efforts to compel local companies to use homegrown semiconductor technology were met with grumbling, owing to the higher costs and lower reliability of domestic alternatives. Now, however, a growing number of Chinese firms see the local chip industry as crucial to their own survival. That is making them all the more willing to take a chance on their countrymen. ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"■"}]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the ","a":[["class","calibre18"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Bottom Line","l":", our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/newsletters/the-bottom-line"]]}]}]}]},{"n":"div","x":"\n","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]},{"n":"p","x":"This article was downloaded by ","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre16"]],"c":[{"n":"strong","x":"calibre","l":" from ","a":[["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"a","x":"https://www.economist.com/business/2025/05/08/huawei-and-other-chinese-chip-firms-are-catching-up-fast","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/business/2025/05/08/huawei-and-other-chinese-chip-firms-are-catching-up-fast"],["rel","calibre-downloaded-from"]]}]},{"n":"br","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"br","l":" | ","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_12/index_u18.html\", \"frag\": \"article_1\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_12\"}"]]}]}]}]},"ns_map":["http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"]}