A NEWS REPORT  by China.org.cn has revealed that China is moving closer to self-reliance in 7nm chip production.

China has recently made new breakthroughs in its 7nm chip-making process, reportedly developing tools and know-how for several segments of the manufacturing process amid efforts to reduce reliance on foreign equipment and material vendors.

Last month, China's chip customisation solution provider, Innosilicon, announced that it had taped out and completed testing of a prototype chip based on the FinFET N+1 process of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). This achievement marks a new step forward in China's homegrown chip development.

Amid major trade restrictions enforced by the United States, SMIC's new generation foundry node is said to be comparable to the 7nm process by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry.

As China's largest chip foundry, SMIC will introduce its N+1 7nm node, marking a significant improvement over its current 14 nm production node, boasting a 20 percent increase in performance, power consumption reduction of 57 percent, a reduced logic area of 63 percent, and SoC (System on a Chip) area reduction of 55 percent, according to the company.

The N+1 foundry node may enable SMIC to break its reliance on advanced Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines produced by Dutch microchip machine maker ASML, according to Liang Mengsong, co-CEO of SMIC. ASML is subject to US export controls as its products contain American technology.

At the same time, China is working hard to develop its own lithography system. 

The Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-Bionics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Sinano), along with the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, recently announced a breakthrough in a new type of 5nm laser lithography technology. Experts believe it could lay the foundation for research into a self-developed advanced lithography machine.

The new technology has broken the traditional constraint in laser direct writing (LDW) with its ability to process at the nano level. In addition to ultra-high precision, the technology also demonstrates potential for mass production.

According to research results published in Nano Letters, a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal, the new LDW technology "exhibits an attractive capability of well-site control and mass production of 500,000 nanogap electrodes per hour"breaking the trade-off between resolution and throughput using nanofabrication techniques.

During the recent China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, ASML, the global leader in lithography machines, showcased its deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, sending out a strong signal for its capability and willingness to export the equipment to China.

Previously, ASML's CFO Roger Dassen has stated that the company can export DUV lithography machines to China without a US licence. The technology can typically produce chips down to the 7nm node.

On the side of materials, Nata Opto-electronic Materials in east China's Jiangsu province announced that it has established China's first ArF photoresist production line, which is used to transfer electronic circuit patterns to silicon crystals in the 7nm chip-making process.

Previously, photoresist materials produced in China could only be applied in the production of chips with standards of 436nm and 365nm.

As the world's largest semiconductor market, China has been spending aggressively in semiconductor investment, acquisition, and talent recruitment to bolster the industry by on-shoring chip manufacturing equal to those of the world's top foundries.

A report by Goldman Sachs on July 2 predicted that China may be capable of producing 7nm chips by 2023.

Thomas Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times, said during an online forum on November11 that China is attempting to build an entire microchip supply chain from end to end, and will be no longer dependent on the US technologies, according to the country's latest Beijing five-year plan.

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THE Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has upgraded its hktdc.com Sourcing platform in the run-up to Autumn Sourcing Week, a large-scale online trade fair that will run from November 16 to 27, 2020.

The platform upgrade will help international traders transition to digital-sourcing models and capture business opportunities in China and the broader Asian region under the post-pandemic new normal. 

HKTDC deputy executive director, Benjamin Chau said,  "The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation or rescheduling of approximately 4,000 physical exhibitions around the world, affecting deals worth an estimated US$296 billion. At the same time, enterprises are seizing the opportunity to challenge conventional ways of working and develop new sourcing and marketing channels. The pandemic has changed the sourcing pattern for many companies and accelerated the transformation of the global supply chain."

Advanced smart sourcing opens up global business opportunities, he said. 

As a pioneer in digital sourcing, the HKTDC introduced Hong Kong's first large-scale business-to-business (B2B) marketing platform, hktdc.com Sourcing, back in 2000. To date, the platform has gathered more than 130,000 suppliers and 2 million buyers, facilitating 24 million business connections a year with the support of the HKTDC's 50 global offices.

To help buyers and suppliers worldwide find new partners and secure business deals amid these challenging times, the HKTDC has completed a significant upgrade to its hktdc.com Sourcing platform..

"Users will notice a refreshed design as well as easy-to-use features delivering a better smart-sourcing experience anytime and anywhere," Mr chau said.

"We have employed new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to facilitate more flexible and personalised functions, such as customised company profile pages, product recommendations and keyword suggestions triggered by product image recognition, providing more efficient business connection services," he said.

To further strengthen buyer confidence, the Third-Party Authentication Service allows suppliers to highlight their credibility.

"The new supplier authentication system classifies companies' reputations and activeness into Gold, Silver and Bronze categories," Mr Chau said.

" A record of companies' participation at HKTDC events and their last update time are also provided, serving as a reference for buyers as they seek out the most suitable suppliers.".

Another new feature is the NewsBites content page, which introduces the latest procurement trends and popular products and pushes notifications via various online media channels to provide buyers with access to relevant suppliers' pages on the platform.

Following the success of its Summer Sourcing Weeks, GO ONLINE earlier this year, which migrated a number of physical exhibitions online, the HKTDC is holding Autumn Sourcing Week ONLINE next week under the theme 'A New Connected World Beyond the New Normal', bringing together 2,600 suppliers from 33 countries and regions.

The exhibition features suppliers from 11 industries -- including electronics, houseware, lighting, outdoor lighting, eco tech, gifts and premiums, toys, baby products, stationery, optical, and watches and clocks -- to provide a one-stop sourcing platform where buyers can restock for the year ahead. Detailed information of the exhibitors and their products are also uploaded to hktdc.com Sourcing to help buyers identify new business partners.

The online exhibition features the AI-driven Click2Match business-matching platform. In addition to bringing buyers and suppliers together, the platform also supports meeting scheduling, video meetings, live-chat and contact exchange.

Autumn Sourcing Week | ONLINE will feature more than 20 webinars at the Intelligence Hub across four main series - SmartTech, Lifestyle, Business Essentials, and Green and Sustainability - with over 100 leading figures sharing insights into the latest trends.

Looking ahead, Mr Chau said the HKTDC would continue to enhance its online services to create more business opportunities for global buyers and suppliers. He said in the future, physical trade fairs and online platforms would need to integrate and complement each other.

"Even when physical exhibitions resume, the HKTDC will continue to organise regular thematic online sourcing events catering to the different sourcing cycles of various sectors. This will create an extended exhibition experience and fully utilise the advantages of O2O."

http://sourcing.hktdc.com

Autumn Sourcing Week ONLINE: http://asw.hktdc.com

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THE Republic of Indonesia has become the first signatory of the Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics, the landmark instrument created to ensure global tourism is fair, inclusive, more transparent, and works for everyone.

The ceremony, hosted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Madrid, is a significant step towards the ratification of the Convention, which was adopted during the 23rd meeting of the UNWTO General Assembly in September 2019.

According to the UNWTO, with the sector currently facing up to the biggest crisis in its history, the signing was a clear sign that member states were looking to UNWTO for firm leadership and remain committed to its mission to use this pause as an opportunity to realign tourism.

The convention was hailed as a 'big step forward' towards introducing a universal, legally binding ethical code for tourism, one of the world’s most important socio-economic sectors. 

In a special ceremony attended by the country’s Ambassador to Spain, Bapak Hermono, and hosted at the UNWTO headquarters, Indonesia became the first country to sign, signalling its strong commitment to uphold the highest ethical principles as it expands its tourism sector.

Indonesia played an important role in the drafting of the Convention as part of the committee that converted the Global Code of Ethics in Tourism into an international legally binding instrument.

A member state since 1975, Indonesia is currently working with UNWTO to restart tourism in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, UNWTO conducted a virtual meeting with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and the Regional Government of Bali to explore solutions for the safe reopening of Bali to international visitors.

Technical assistance from UNWTO will be provided in due course, a spokesperson said. 

www.unwto.org

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JAPAN, which once garnered positive headlines globally due to relatively lower rate of COVID-19 infections compared with other countries, seeming to pass through the worst of the virus outbreak, is now on alert from a spike in new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

Economic data research adn analysis group GlobalData predicted this was likely to dampen investor sentiments.

Investors, who are wary of the rising cases and the consequences on the business environment and the country’s economy, are expected to remain cautious on placing bets, according to GlobalData. 

Tokyo, where a state of emergency was removed on May 25, started registering new cases in July. It registered 224 new cases on July 9 and crossed the 200 mark for the first time.

Realising the gravity of the situation, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government raised its COVID-19 alert to the highest level on July 15. It is still in force.

Amid the continued spike in COVID-19 infections in July and August, Tokyo reported 263 new cases on August 5. It also reported 472 new cases on August 1.

Aichi and Osaka have also been seeing growth in COVID-19 infections and reported 144 and 196 new cases, respectively, on August 5.

Aurojyoti Bose, a lead analyst at GlobalData, said, “If new COVID-19 cases continue to increase and Japan is forced to impose nationwide state of emergency, it will be a big blow to the country’s economy.

"The Bank of Japan in its forecast issued on July 15 expects the economy to shrink by 4.7 percent in fiscal 2020 and the recent surge in new cases signalling towards a second wave of COVID-19 infections may pose further risks for the country’s economy. It will also dent the recovery of business sentiments, which started picking up as the number of COVID-19 cases slowed down in late May.”

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and venture capital (VC) deals which stood at 62 and 52, respectively, in April 2020, the month when Japan imposed a state of emergency, decreased to 56 and 43, respectively, in May.

Nevertheless, investor sentiments started picking up, subsequent to the removal of state of emergency in late May, with M&A deal volume increasing to 66 in July while VC deal volume remain unchanged at 43.

 “With the recent spike in cases likely to dampen investor sentiments, it would be noteworthy to see if the momentum persists during the coming months," Mr Bose said.

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