China's semiconductor godfather warns against 2nm fixation

Morris Chang’s protégé, Richard Chang, isn’t dismissing cutting-edge nodes but exposing a pragmatic pivot under geopolitical siege. Technically, doubling down on 55–28nm mature processes fortifies China’s design-manufacturing loop for power ICs, MCUs, and automotive chips—bypassing EUV dependency. Compliance-wise, avoiding advanced lithography sidesteps U.S.-led export controls, slashing supply chain fragility and legal overhead. Strategically, TSMC and Samsung will likely pour capital into sub-2nm to widen their tech moat, inadvertently ceding mature-node market share to Chinese foundries. Over the next 12–24 months, over 80% of global chip demand will still rely on ≥40nm nodes; if China consolidates Hua Hong, SMIC, and Jitri into a high-yield, high-reliability mature-process coalition, it can lock in irreversible dominance in EVs and industrial electronics.