(By Tang Penji, Edited by Lü Dong)

"We push him every day, and he has no choice but to work very hard on investment and invention. Maybe something will come out that completely shocks everyone, just like DeepSeek."

Recently, Lin Benjian, known as the "father of immersion lithography," dean of the Semiconductor Research Institute of National Tsinghua University in Taiwan, and former vice president of R&D at TSMC, frankly admitted in an interview that mainland China may redefine semiconductors and achieve similar success to DeepSeek.

Lin Benjian believes that mainland China does not necessarily have to focus on 7nm and 5nm processes. Instead, it can achieve the same functionality as 5nm through new materials and architectures while using a 7nm process. It does not need to enter the traditional advanced process track and spend more effort and cost to compete for 5nm or even more advanced processes. Just like DeepSeek, which is impacting global computing power, it does not follow conventional routes but achieves its goals faster and better.

"From 5nm to 3nm, and from 3nm to 2nm, these can be done, but it requires a lot of effort and increases costs significantly. By redefining, if you can use 7nm technology to do what 5nm can do, or even what will be done in the future, perhaps with new materials and new architectures, you can achieve the original goal of shrinking things. For example, recently there was DeepSeek, which did not follow the same methods as others but achieved faster and better results." He said.

Lin Benjian claims that mainland China can redefine semiconductors.

Lin Benjian added that if external pressure continuously pushes mainland China to continue investing in research and development, it is entirely possible in the future to create a "DeepSeek of the semiconductor world," rendering TSMC's efforts in 5nm, 2nm, and 3nm processes completely irrelevant. "This would cause us trouble because mainland China has low prices and a large market, and he works very hard on investment and invention, possibly shocking everyone like DeepSeek."

When talking about the profitability of mainland foundries, Chiang Shang-yi, strategy director of Foxconn Group and former co-COO of TSMC, added that without government subsidies, the profitability of local foundries would be immediately apparent. However, the key point is that semiconductor autonomy is an unwavering development direction for mainland China, and semiconductor companies are bound to explore suitable survival and development models for themselves.

Regarding Intel's predicament, Chiang Shang-yi suggested that Intel abandon the idea of seeking help from TSMC and instead consider acquiring a mature process foundry to achieve complementary technologies, which would provide greater chances of success.

Lin Benjian candidly admitted that TSMC has advantages that its peers cannot match. "It's very difficult to catch up." He believes that compared to Intel and Samsung, TSMC has hundreds of customers, higher production volume, and faster speed, making it difficult for competitors to catch up.

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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7488939832069079604/

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