China lags TSMC's chip capabilities by around 6 years: 'Chip War' author

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) China's most advanced chip manufacturing lags behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) by about six years, according to Chris Miller, author of the international bestseller "Chip War."

In a video interview with Foreign Policy released on Thursday, Miller said that a breakdown of the latest smartphone released by Huawei -- China's leading telecommunications firm -- found that the chip was produced by China's chip leader SMIC "with the manufacturing process that in Taiwan, TSMC had pioneered around 2018."

This indicates that SMIC "is around five or six years behind TSMC," he said.

While a five- to six-year gap may seem insignificant, Miller pointed out that the Taiwanese chip giant's cutting-edge products are capable of computing eight times more efficiently than their Chinese counterparts, a result of Moore's Law.

Named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, the law predicts that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years, emphasizing the growth and efficiency of computing power over time.

That position "makes Taiwan so extraordinarily important," Miller said.

In September, however, Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文), head of Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council, said that the gap should be "over a decade."

Miller shared his observation during the interview that focused on the industry landscape amid the return of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act aimed at encouraging production of chips on the American soil.

On the importance of the United States working with allies, Miller said the alliance can be used to agree on a set of shared principles and take collective action as a result, or to leverage influence and negotiate deals.

While outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden focused more on the former, Miller said Trump emphasized the latter during his first term and is expected to continue this approach.

"Trump administration's critique of the Biden team would be that they had the leverage they didn't use, and they promised not to use leverage at the start of negotiations, and as a result, got worse deals because of it," he added.

Thus, Miller predicted that the Trump administration would "take a bit more assertive, a bit more negotiations-based approach to allies" to ensure they live up to their promises instead of abandoning them.

Miller argued that Trump's attitude and tariff threats have already led to policy shifts in some countries, citing the news that European leaders were moving toward committing 3 percent of GDP to defense.

In preparation for a second Trump term, Miller said Beijing is likely to continue trying to "domesticate as much as possible the entire technology supply chain," though Chinese firms still face difficulties in doing so with advanced chips and the tools used to make them.

Beijing may also put a limit on American firms' access to the Chinese market and export to the U.S. critical minerals for chip manufacturing, such as germanium, Miller added.

Just earlier this week, China's State Administration for Market Regulation announced its probe into Silicon Valley AI chip giant Nvidia for potential violations of the country's antitrust laws.