how does that matter? SMIC had the 7nm news recently, not sure about that but even if it is 14nm, can't they throw money on the problem and get something to start with?
they don't have to achieve A100 levels in the first go, even Rpi level chips should be enough to give them experience
I guess they are not able to buy the tooling (think ASML EUV) to make advanced node either. So, they’d also need to throw a shitload of time and money at this.
This is one of those problems that “throwing money at it” doesn’t speed it up. China has been throwing money at the problem for over a decade and they’re still behind.
they don't have to achieve A100 levels in the first go, even Rpi level chips should be enough to give them experience