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All countries and regions are stepping up the layout of the chip manufacturing industry, and China is no exception. Manufacturing chips requires a variety of semiconductor equipment, including lithography machines, etching machines, cleaning machines, thin film deposition, and so on. The United States, together with Japan and the Netherlands, reached a tripartite agreement to restrict the export of semiconductor equipment to China.
However, during 2023, China's local semiconductor equipment market has also improved greatly, and the proportion of domestic equipment winning bids has reached 47%!
Semiconductor equipment restrictions in the U.S. camp
The United States, Japan, and the Netherlands are important countries in the global semiconductor equipment industry. They have strong capabilities in semiconductor equipment manufacturing, R&D, and innovation. The U.S. is one of the world's largest semiconductor markets, with well-known semiconductor equipment manufacturers and R&D organizations, such as Applied Materials, Lam Research.
Japan is an important part of the global semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry, with one of the largest semiconductor equipment manufacturers in the world, as well as several companies that are competitive in this field. Japan has a high technical level and market share in the field of semiconductor equipment such as lithography machines and etching machines, and its representative companies include Nikon and Tokyo Electron.
ASML in the Netherlands is the world's largest lithography machine manufacturer, and without ASML's EUV lithography machine, it is difficult to create high-end chips of 7nm and below.
The joint restrictions of these three countries on the export of lithography machines, etching machines and other equipment to Chinese mainland will have a certain impact on the semiconductor industry in Chinese mainland. Although they said that they did not target any country, they also knew that this was the US camp's strict defense against Chinese mainland in terms of semiconductor equipment restrictions.
The restrictive measures have further stimulated the development of the localization process of semiconductor equipment in China, especially after Japan restricted the shipment of lithography machines on July 23, 2023, Chinese customers have increased the purchase of local equipment, and there has been a great improvement.
China's semiconductor equipment is moving forward steadily
The restrictions in Western countries are both a challenge and an opportunity, and throughout 2023, China's semiconductor equipment market has ushered in earth-shaking changes. According to the data of the International Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI), the sales of semiconductor equipment in the Chinese market will exceed 30 billion US dollars in 2023, a record high.
According to the bidding data of semiconductor manufacturers, from January to November last year, domestic manufacturers won a total of 875 bids for wafer long-term, and the proportion of domestic equipment reached 47%.
It is equivalent to half of the semiconductor equipment purchased on the market provided by Chinese enterprises, which has formed a preliminary benchmark with foreign manufacturers, and even has the ability to replace imported equipment in some mature process fields.
Japanese media sighed: Chinese customers don't buy it, which has led to heavy losses for Japanese manufacturers. Just like Nikon only shipped 6 lithography machines in the third quarter of last year, its revenue and profit fell sharply.
It is estimated that many people do not know that Chinese manufacturers also have in-depth layouts in large tracks such as lithography machines and etching machines, especially in terms of etching machines, China Micro Semiconductor has been able to manufacture 5nm process etching machines, and the products have also entered TSMC's production line.
A large number of Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers such as Tuojing Technology, Huahai Qingke, and Xinyuan Micro have made steady progress in their respective fields, increasing core technology research and development, and filling the industrial gap.
There may still be a gap from the international top level, but foreign semiconductor equipment restrictions may become an opportunity for China's semiconductor equipment to give it a go, and the future of localized equipment is expected to continue to grow.
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