TSMC Takes Big Steps To Shrink IC Chips
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, plans to mass produce 4-nanometer and 3nm chips next year, as part of its continual effort to shrink chip sizes, a significant shrinkage from the 7nm chips that are currently in mass production and the 5nm chips that have entered the manufacturing stage, 21st Century Business Herald reported.
TSMC has invested over $3 billion into research and development of semiconductors this year. The company expects 3nm chips will increase efficiency by 10 to 15 percent while reducing power consumption by 25 to 30 percent, Luo Zhengqiu, TSMC's Nanjing general manager, was quoted as saying at the 2020 World Semiconductor Congress held in Nanjing on Wednesday.
Up to 140 kinds of products that use 7nm chips are currrently in mass production. TSMC projects by the end of this year, another 60 7nm-products will be mass produced.
As of 2020, TSMC has provided over 1 billion chips to sectors including CPU, GPU, telecommunication and AI, around the world. Under U.S. restrictions on Chinese tech companies, TSMC stated it had stopped processing new orders from Huawei since May 15.
Shanghai Construction Corp. Reports Big Gold Strike In Africa
Shanghai Construction (Group) Corporation (SCG) announced that its Koka Gold Mine in Eritrea has discovered an additional 338,900 ounces of gold, worth $603 million, as an addition to its proven reserves.
The news brought SCG's stock up by 8.36% to close at 3.37 yuan on Thursday, with a new market valuation of up to 30.5 billion yuan, Yicai Global reported.
SCG acquired 60% of Zara Mining's shares for $80 million at the end of 2011. Zara Mining in a joint venture with the Eritrean government gained an 18-year mining permission for the KoKa Gold Mine, which had 746,000 ounces of mineable gold as of June 30.
It was the first SCG overseas mining project that could return nearly 1 billion yuan and provide a stable investment to the group, SCG said.
SCG underwent fast-paced growth in the 1990s as the city of Shanghai took advantage of economic reforms and growth sweeping China. It has an internationally focused subsidiary, SCG for Foreign Economic & Technological Cooperation.
Guidelines Seek To Boost Domestic Sci-fi Film Sector
China's top authorities in the culture development field have recently issued 10 suggestions, in a guideline document, for promoting the development of the domestic science fiction film industry, focused on addressing aspects of creative content, VFX technologies, distribution screening and training professionals.
The guidelines, released by China Film Administration and China Association for Science and Technology, stressed how the science fiction industry fits into China's goals for ideological and technological development. Filmmakers should follow the "correct direction" for development of science-fiction movies, based on President Xi Jinping's past statement regarding film works, the document said.
To enhance creative capability, it encouraged domestic film festivals and traditional film programs to set up a special unit and awards for science fiction film scripts. Companies that produce science-fiction films will be able to avail themselves of preferential tax policies in government-backed Hi-Tech industrial bases across the nation.
In terms of developing VFX technological capacity, the authorities are further implementing national policies to encourage the development of integrated circuit and software industries.
The first domestic science fiction blockbuster movie, "The Wandering Earth," was released in 2019 and saw box office revenues of $691 million. Its VFX work was reportedly done by a mix of domestic and international VFX houses - Base FX, Bottleship VFX, Dexter Stuidos, Macrograph, More VFX, Pixomondo and Black Nomad.
DiDi Releases Q2 Safety Report
Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi Chuxing released its second-quarter safety report, reflecting a host of problems including sexual harassment and conflicts caused by drunken customers.
This report's release came after the company had been criticized regarding customer safety issues.
There were a total of 10,130 complaints related to drunken customers during this period. DiDi Chuxing customer service had to tackle an average of one complaint every 12 minutes. There were 364 cases involving physical conflicts, while 477 were about vocal or physical harassment.
In 97.7 percent of the harassment cases, drivers were victims, the report said, while 2.3 percent of the cases were drivers harassing customers.
In 36.8 percent of cases, male drivers complained of being harassed by male customers, while 24 percent of cases were female drivers complaining of being harassed by male customers.
Southeastern Regions Rank High In R&D Expenditures
Nearly 2.2 trillion yuan was spent on research and development across the country last year, an increase of 12.5% compared with 2018. R&D spending in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the cities of Beijing and Shanghai accounted for half of the total amount, according to statistics released by the National Statistics Bureau.
Aside from Beijing, the other regions lie in southern or eastern parts of the country. A total of 105 science and technology companies from these five regions went public last year, according to public statistics.
Guangdong province, which links Hong Kong and Mainland China, ranked at the top of the list with 309.85 billion yuan in R&D expenditures, led by 100 billion yuan in spending by Shenzhen. Beijing and the Mainland's financial hub city, Shanghai, followed as top spenders.
Analysts said that in recent years, while middle and western regions have taken over labor-intensive industries, the southern and eastern regions have been seeking for intensive high-quality development, which requires significant investment in R&D.
