TechInsights said SMIC used existing equipment and its second-generation 7-nm process to manufacture the 5G-capable Kirin 9000s for Huawei
Huawei was known to have been stockpiling chips from its HiSilicon unit before TSMC cut ties to comply with US sanctions
From what I understand China does not know how to make their own lithography equipment and they had to be imported from abroad. It’s specifically one of the things the sanctions are targeting. The second paragraph is interesting and it answers a question I had earlier about how they were sourcing their silicone. In the <9nm regime its really important that the silicone is amorphous, if it’s crystalline then lithography will fail since the edges it will etch will be jagged from the crystalline structure of the silicone. So my guess is they can’t make their own silicone either, at least not for etching 7nm chips.