On August 8, according to Sina Technology, SMIC and Shangyang Software jointly announced the suspension of the CIM localization project planned for a new 12-inch wafer fab in Beijing. According to the report, a person familiar with the matter said that the reason for the suspension of the project was that after evaluation, the technical contractor Shangyang Software could not complete the localization of SMIC’s semiconductor CIM software.
The project has been advancing for nearly a year. Rising Software has set up a research and development center for the project and has invested hundreds of people.
Sina Technology reported that hundreds of Ascend software staff who are currently undertaking the project have left SMIC’s office in Beijing, and many senior technicians responsible for the project’s research and development have begun to look for new jobs.
On the afternoon of August 8, Shangyang Technology responded that the SMIC Beijing project had not been suspended, and the Yangyang team was still developing software for it. The adjustment of the office location of the relevant personnel is due to the repeated epidemic situation. Ascension Technology also stated that the current project leader and team are stable, and the relevant project personnel have not left their jobs and are still sticking to their posts.
An industry insider close to Rising Software told Leifeng.com that the SMIC Beijing project was only postponed, not suspended, the team worked remotely, and internal development was not disbanded.
As of press time, SMIC has not yet responded to the matter.
The specific situation of this “project shutdown” event is still confusing, which makes people wonder what the CIM software at the center of this event is?
Like EDA software, CIM software is an indispensable part of the chip production process. EDA software plays a role in the chip design process, and CIM software plays a role in the wafer fabrication process.
Specifically, CIM software refers to a computer integrated manufacturing system, which includes many fields in wafer manufacturing, and is called a “life-level” software system in semiconductor wafer manufacturing and advanced packaging and testing factories. Among them, the manufacturing execution system (MES) is the most important part. It plays the role of “commander” in the process of wafer manufacturing and completes the scheduling of wafers between different equipment.
If the MES software shuts down, the entire fab will be paralyzed.
Previously, Shangyang Technology and SMIC had a successful case of cooperation in the development of CIM systems for 8-inch chip production lines, and this time to achieve localization of 12-inch wafers is to strengthen the technical autonomy of more advanced process technology.
Larger wafers represent higher manufacturing efficiency and can also meet the manufacturing requirements of more advanced process chips: an 8-inch wafer can produce 88 chips, while a 12-inch wafer can produce 232 chips , and the cost per chip is lower. At present, the production process of high-end logic chips such as storage, GPU and CPU is also dominated by 12 inches.
The larger the wafer size, the higher the degree of automation and the higher the need for CIM software. Wafers of 4-6 inches mainly rely on manpower to realize the flow between equipment, 8 inches are a combination of manpower and automation, and 12 inches require full automation.
Like EDA software, the domestic chip industry is almost monopolized by foreign giants in the advanced CIM software market, and suffers from “stuck neck”.
The 12-inch wafer fab CIM localization project, which was suspended by the Internet this time, was set up to break this monopoly.
As the largest fab in mainland China, SMIC is an active explorer of advanced technology.
In 2021, SMIC plans to build 3 12-inch fabs with a 100 billion investment. As SMIC continues to explore advanced technology, the CIM software system for larger wafers has also become an indispensable part. However, due to the suppression of the US government, SMIC’s use of foreign equipment and software is restricted everywhere, and due to the consideration of technology control, it has started research on the localization of CIM software.
Some people in the industry pointed out that domestic industrial software has just started, and its development is indeed difficult, but domestic software is still promising in the future.
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