China’s No. 2 chipmaker readies 7 nm production as Beijing ramps up self-suffiency drive

SINGAPORE ? China’s Hua Hong Group has developed advanced chip manufacturing technologies that can be used to produce artificial intelligence chips, four people familiar with the matter said, a major milestone in Beijing’s efforts to boost tech self-sufficiency. The group’s contract chipmaking business, Huali Microelectronics, is readying a 7-nanometer (nm) chipmaking process at its plant in Shanghai, the people said, which would make it the second Chinese chipmaker with such advanced technologies. Hua Hong is China’s second-largest chipmaker. China’s largest contract chipmaker, SMIC, is at present the only domestic producer capable of making chips with 7 nm technologies. The development…