Chinese chip manufacturers have begun developing 7nm chips following the production of 16nm chips, and have set out in earnest to narrow the technology gap with top companies in chip manufacturing.

H3C, a subsidiary of UNIS under China's Tsinghua Unigroup, announced that it has begun developing the 7nm chip 'Engiant 800' following the 16nm chip 'Engiant 660' series, which recently entered production.

In a recent conference call, UNIS responded to participants' questions by stating that it began research and development of network chips in 2019, started developing the 'Engiant660' premium network processor core based on the 16nm process late last year, is currently testing the product, and is preparing for an official launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

They also announced that they are currently researching and developing a 7nm premium router chip.

The 'Engiant 600' series mentioned in the announcement is a chip released in April of this year by H3C, a subsidiary of UNIS. It is a communication card with 256 cores, 4,096 hardware threads, 18 billion transistors, and 2.4 Tbps, manufactured using a 16 nm process, capable of meeting the demands of operators and major networks.

The 'Engiant 800', currently under development at 7nm, includes over 500 cores and more than 40 billion transistors, surpassing the 'Engiant 600' series. The company expects performance to improve by 122%.

Meanwhile, China's Tsinghua Unigroup entered bankruptcy restructuring unable to cope with its massive debt exceeding 20 trillion won, and recently issued a call for strategic investors and is continuing its desperate efforts to revive itself.