Abstract: On May 9, local time, according to The Information, citing two sources familiar with the matter, the US Department of Commerce is considering prohibiting US companies from selling advanced chip manufacturing equipment to Chinese companies.
On May 9, local time, according to The Information, two people familiar with the matter revealed that the US Department of Commerce is considering prohibiting US companies from selling advanced chip manufacturing equipment to Chinese companies.
The rule would expand existing bans on U.S. companies selling such devices to Semiconductor Manufacturing International, China's leading chipmaker. The broader ban will affect companies including state-backed Huahong Semiconductor, Changxin Storage Technology and Changjiang Storage Technology.
A potential ban is in the early stages and could take months to draft. Previously, under U.S. sanctions, Huawei, one of China's largest technology companies, was cut off from manufacturing self-developed chips and supplying third-party chips. In addition, SMIC, China's largest chipmaker, was unable to acquire advanced process chip manufacturing equipment due to U.S. sanctions, and even mature process equipment needs to be purchased through licenses approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
China has also stepped up efforts to build a domestic semiconductor industry in recent years, and the Chinese government believes that the independent manufacture of chips is the key to breaking the dependence on Western technology, but it needs chip manufacturing equipment, and the world's leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers are mainly concentrated in the United States, Japan and Europe.
According to the 2020 Global TOP15 Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers Sales Ranking released by VLSI Research, a U.S. semiconductor industry research company, 7 of the top 15 semiconductor equipment manufacturers are from Japan and 4 are from the United States (these 4 are among the top 8 manufacturers, and Applied Materials and Lam Group occupy the first and third places, respectively), which also reflects the strong advantages of the United States and Japan in the field of semiconductor equipment. Two are from Europe, but asML, ranked second, is the world's largest manufacturer of lithography machines and the only supplier of EUV lithography machines in the world.
△ 2020 global top 15 semiconductor equipment manufacturers sales ranking
Editor: Xin ZhiXun - Langke Sword