In January, the bidding rate of domestic semiconductor equipment reached 74.92%
In recent years, with the vigorous development of the global semiconductor industry, the semiconductor equipment market has grown for three consecutive years. However, as the semiconductor industry enters a down cycle and under the influence of the U.S. export ban on China, the shrinking demand in the semiconductor equipment market in 2023 seems to be a foregone conclusion.
It can be seen from the above that the down cycle of the semiconductor market has gradually spread to the upstream equipment sector. However, unlike the global market, domestic fabs such as SMIC, SMIC, Jinghe Integrated, Hua Hong Semiconductor, Yandong Micro, Shanghai Jita, and Yuexin Semiconductor are still in the expansion cycle and have opened a new A round of large-scale procurement of equipment.
Jiwei.com sorted out the data of the bidding platform and found that the current semiconductor equipment market has picked up. In January 2023, NAURA, China Micro, Shengmei Shanghai, Huahai Qingke, Applied Materials, KLA and other companies won a total of 331 equipment bids, which is close to the total number of bids won in the fourth quarter of 2022 (357 units).
Secondly, since domestic semiconductor equipment is still heavily dependent on imports, the trend of localization of equipment will continue. Based on factors such as supply chain security, equipment cost savings, customization requirements, and localized high-quality after-sales service, domestic semiconductor equipment has become an important choice for domestic fabs. Among the above-mentioned 331 pieces of equipment won by semiconductor equipment manufacturers in January 2023, domestic equipment manufacturers won a total of 248 pieces of equipment, accounting for as high as 74.92%.
Self-developed core components
On the other hand, domestic semiconductor equipment manufacturers also use their own technology to overcome or acquire upstream manufacturers to lay out key component businesses.
In fact, key components have a great impact on the stability, production capacity, and accuracy of semiconductor equipment. Therefore, major international semiconductor equipment manufacturers including ASML, Applied Materials, Advantest, and Teradyne are actively developing their own components, or It is the merger and acquisition of upstream component manufacturers, such as ASML's acquisition of Cymer, Teradyne's acquisition of MiR, AutoGuide, etc.
Domestically, according to incomplete statistics from Jiwei.com, semiconductor equipment manufacturers including Heyan Technology, Jingsheng Electromechanical, Zhichun Technology, and Guangli Technology have all deployed parts and components business.
Heyan Technology said that benefiting from the opportunity of localization of parts and components, the company is committed to diversified development and provides customers with more choices. Already have semiconductor post-processing equipment, dicing equipment, supporting equipment and independent research and development, design, and production capabilities for some parts. Last year, the Suzhou company (Suzhou Heyan Precision Technology Co., Ltd.) was successfully put into production. The parts KIT produced by its factory Fixtures have been introduced into the market in batches, which also marks the company's determination to localize parts and components.
Zhichun Technology also stated on the interactive platform on February 22 that the company has deployed some parts manufacturing business in individual process segments.
Jingsheng Electromechanical pointed out that the company has continuously increased the research and development of new products, successfully developed new business areas such as quartz crucibles, diamond wires, semiconductor precision parts and other core auxiliary materials and consumables, and gradually improved the supporting system of industrial chain products.
Guangli Technology has greatly improved the company's R&D and production capabilities for core components such as air spindles through the construction of precision high-rigidity air spindle research and development and industrialized convertible bond projects.
In addition, mergers and acquisitions of upstream component manufacturers have gradually become a trend in the domestic semiconductor equipment industry. As early as 2020, Wanye Enterprise acquired Compart Systems, a world-leading supplier of components and flow control solutions in the field of gas delivery systems, to deploy its semiconductor parts business.
On February 6, 2023, in order to enhance cost control capabilities and guarantee the supply of core components, Shengmei Shanghai also announced the acquisition of a 20% stake in the largest external supplier NIEBELL.