GoKawiil
Tech News
The Centre for Technology & Statecraft estimates Chinese chipmakers imported 343 immersion DUV lithography scanners from ASML between 2012 and early 2026, not counting equipment sent to multinational fabs operating in China. CTS says about 270 of these are Twinscan NXT:1980i machines, which offer resolution and overlay precision that could support 7nm-class chip production through multipatterning techniques.
China's Institute of Microelectronics (IMECAS) says it has completed early process integration for stacked-nanosheet gate-all-around transistors built entirely with immersion DUV lithography, avoiding EUV tools that Chinese fabs cannot access. The devices reportedly achieved Ion/Ioff ratios above the 5×10⁵ threshold needed to prove effective gate control over the nanosheet stack. However, IMECAS has not released key figures like gate pitch, transistor density, or nanosheet dimensions needed to compare it to actual 3nm-class chips from TSMC or Samsung.
Taiwan's Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau has pursued 166 investigations into companies illegally operated by Chinese owners disguised through shell firms or local nominees, resulting in at least 36 convictions since 2020. These businesses skirted Taiwan's Cross-Strait Act, which requires Chinese entities to obtain government permits before operating on the island, permits that are increasingly hard to secure amid rising cross-strait tensions.
Prosecutors in Keelung, Taiwan have indicted nine individuals—including a senior Nvidia manager and two Supermicro employees—on charges of breach of trust and document forgery tied to illegal exports of high-end AI servers to China. Investigators say the group falsified paperwork to make it look like 130 B300 servers were deployed in Taiwan, when 74 were actually shipped to Chinese customers; the remaining 56 were stopped after customs officials spotted inconsistencies.