Chinese semiconductor industry

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european_guy

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breakthrough! Enterprises in Economic Development Zone realize localization of chip manufacturing equipment​

Shengying Semiconductor located in Xiangcheng Economic Development Zone delivered the first localization Semiconductor Electrochemical Deposition (ECD) Equipment achieved in the field of electronic information industry in Suzhou an important breakthrough in the localized R&D and manufacturing of core equipment.

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Maybe they produce on license, because it is very similar to this one with the same name made by NEXX

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NEXX is a US company acquired first by Tokyo Electron in 2012 and then sold to ASMPT in 2018

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ASMPT seems to be a Singaporean company

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So not clear what Shengying Semiconductor actually is. I was not able to find their site.


Anyhow this kind of machine (electroplating) is already in ACM Research portfolio:

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FairAndUnbiased

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Maybe they produce on license, because it is very similar to this one with the same name made by NEXX

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NEXX is a US company acquired first by Tokyo Electron in 2012 and then sold to ASMPT in 2018

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ASMPT seems to be a Singaporean company

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So not clear what Shengying Semiconductor actually is. I was not able to find their site.


Anyhow this kind of machine (electroplating) is already in ACM Research portfolio:

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Shengying is the Chinese distributor just like Teltec is the distributor in Europe. So it's not domestic, it's just a rebrand.

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european_guy

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Not sure how accurate this is, but this is apparently a Q&A with a Lam employee that served YMTC and CXMT
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There are a few important things he talked about:
- No support from Lam is available for Chinese fabs after October 12th
- All staff have to withdraw and cannot further assist local Chinese fabs. They can't offer replacement or servicing. Which brings up the point that employees from Lam and others are likely to be let go and join local companies. For example, Lam has several hundreds employees helping YMTC.
- So even though Lam can't service YMTC/CXMT anymore, their ex-employees can be hired to do that job. However, updates and spared will not be possible.
- Seems like even for equipment that does not hit the threshold, you'd need to sign an agreement that those equipment will not be used to assist military or other strategic areas. There is no way SMIC/YMTC/CXMT would sign those agreement. Seems to me that Lam is completely finished in China
- I think this guy is a little inconsistent. They asked him if SMSC (basically the SN1/SN2 fab) had Lam employees even though they couldn't get any 14nm or below technology before. He said even though it products 7 nm and 14 nm chips, SMSC fab somehow still had a few Lam employees. well, I guess that confirms people in the industry knows that SMIC is producing 7 nm chips and that it doesn't use American tools (for the most part)
- Really pessimistic about US citizens. Green card holders are not effected, but citizens are. They have to either give up their citizenship or their career. I think this is an important one. I don't think the heads of these companies will give up their company, but maybe a few of the lower level people will.
- Said no Americans can help Chinese firms from anywhere. lol, okay, i think this guy is a little more emotional here, but I'm sure some of these guys are calling their lawyers right now for advice.
- Asked about how Fujian Jinhua started production again. He just said they got some machines before the ban and some second hand tools after. Refuses to admit that Fujian Jinhua just bought Chinese made tools.
- Said that Fujian Jinhua was able to get parts and spares from Korea and Taiwan, not everything for those machines are produced in America. Again, this guy is intentionally been difficult imo. First he says that YMTC/CXMT might have trouble with spares/parts for their existing production line down the road, but then he says Fujian Jinhua was able to get them.
- Then he says CXMT's biggest trouble is that expansion might be hard in the short term. First, he said that it is hard to replace all the American parts. Then, he said ICRD Jiading was able to be all domestic, but then says ICRD line hasn't reached mass production.
- Says that ICRD has 2 production lines: 1 fully Chinese and the other is western.
- Then he thinks ASML is a problem, but then admits that if a non-American machine contains only 10 to 20% American parts, then it cannot be prevented from being sold to China.

So, it seems to me that he was overall quite defensive about the entire thing and thinks it will hit Chinese fab expansion (not existing production). He freely admits that China can replace a lot of the Lam products, but refuses to admit that AMEC can replace everything Lam produces.

It seems to me there are a few obvious outcomes here:
1) Chinese tools makers need to expand their production quickly. There is so much demand
2) Lam/KLA/AMAT are done in the Chinese market. They will be letting go of many people and that will help their Chinese competitors. At minimum, there are skilled technicians that have worked in this industry that can service NAURA/AMEC machines. I'm sure there are engineering talents too.
3) US passport holders will have a hard decision to make. This is where Chinese gov't really needs to step up. They need to grant these people expedient citizenship and allow dual citizenship I think. A lot of these guys want to have their family in Western countries. Even if they give up their US citizenship, they will still want to have their family in Canada, Australia or Singapore or somewhere else.
4) Looks like the precious SMIC and HLMC have found a way to expand their production without American tools. I see no reason why China cannot further ramp up their advanced node production.

Thanks for finding this. Indeed the link already disappeared. So very good timing from your side!

US equipment is a clear long term liability, especially for advanced firms like YMTC. The sooner they get rid of it, the better. This ideologically obsessed neocon administration just gave them a little push to jump into the cold water....now they have to swim.

There will be some issue in the short term, maybe their developing plan will slowdown now, but they will free themselves from this toxic dependency once and for all. Most importantly, they will do it before their big capacity expansion starts and new fabs are built. YMTC is still a small actor in world market, but it will grow and gain market share in the future. It is critical that it is able to grow in a safe way.

Chinese firms plan huge capacity expansions in the next 2/3 years. It is a key point IMO that those fabs should be be sanction-proof. It is more important than starting volume production 1 year sooner, because the continuous threat to remain withouth service and spare parts is not acceptable for any kind of factory, not only in semiconductors. You must be sure of your production capacity and have it fully in your hands.
 

ansy1968

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720 and 830 not 9xxx
Sir what's your opinion regarding all of these restriction? For me, it's like a normal day in the office. From what I'm seeing the Chinese are gearing up a surprises that may SHOOK all of us...lol Like I always said why telegraph your action? they should have done all of these 5 years ago when they sanction Huawei, half asses policy produce a mediocre outcome, now the departed ship is nearing its final destination, it will be well received and an annoyance to someone. ;)
 

olalavn

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Sir what's your opinion regarding all of these restriction? For me, it's like a normal day in the office. From what I'm seeing the Chinese are gearing up a surprises that may SHOOK all of us...lol Like I always said why telegraph your action? they should have done all of these 5 years ago when they sanction Huawei, half asses policy produce a mediocre outcome, now the departed ship is nearing its final destination, it will be well received and an annoyance to someone. ;)
Thank you America! ! ! Because there is still a large number of people still delusional and continue to hinder the development of chips.
 

european_guy

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Global 300mm Semiconductor Fab Capacity Projected To Reach New High in 2025​


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"China is projected to increase its global share of 300mm front-end fab capacity from 19% in 2021 to 23% in 2025, reaching 2.3 million wpm <....> China is nearing global leader Korea in 300mm fab capacity and expected to overtake Taiwan, now in second place, next year. "


"Power-related capacity with the strongest growth at a 39% CAGR, followed by Analog at 37%, Foundry at 14%, Opto at 7% and Memory at 5%. "

Power and analog IC equipment is not under export control and it is the technology where China is really investing hard today, and for a reason: This is the key IC for automotive, especially NEV, where China had a head start and is focused to keep the advantage.

Oddly enough, the neocons think-tanks in Washington still didn't realize it, but even if they do, luckily for this kind of IC, legacy technology equipment is more than enough, and here China is already almost independent. Lithography localization in volume production is still missing, but ASML can't really stop selling dry DUV or even KrF systems to China: it would mean to just leave China altogether. US must declare war to Holland for this to happen!
 
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