As the hegemon of the world's lithography machine market, ASML continues to maintain its leading technology and market dominance. On December 21, ASML announced the delivery of the world's first 2nm lithography machine to Intel Corporation. This lithography machine is based on state-of-the-art EUV (extreme ultraviolet) technology, and its resolution has once again achieved a breakthrough. This is a significant milestone that marks a step towards the next level of process technology in the semiconductor industry.
The cost of the world's first 2nm lithography machine delivered exceeded $300 million per unit, demonstrating ASML's top capabilities in lithography machine manufacturing. ASML plans to manufacture 10 3nm lithography machines in 2024, and 6 have already been purchased by Intel. This further strengthens ASML's leading position in market share and demonstrates its stable future trends.
Recently, ASML has attracted a lot of attention for its positive stance on the Chinese market. President and CEO Wennink said that ASML's sales in the third quarter of this year reached 6.7 billion euros, far exceeding the expected target, with the Chinese market playing an important role. Previously, the Chinese market accounted for only 8% of ASML's sales, but in the third quarter it was as high as 46%. This means that the Chinese market is becoming increasingly important to ASML.
As the main driving force for the development of China's semiconductor industry, the huge demand in the Chinese market has attracted the attention of ASML. Therefore, ASML has stepped up its efforts to show favor to the Chinese market, and does not hesitate to offend other competitors such as the United States to ensure priority shipments in the Chinese market, which shows that it attaches great importance to the Chinese market.
However, for China, although ASML's lithography machine to Chinese mainland is conducive to alleviating the situation of insufficient chip production capacity, it should also be clearly aware that this does not mean that China can stop the pace of independent research and development of lithography machines. One of the core purposes of ASML's lithography machine to Chinese mainland ** is to dump the existing DUV (deep ultraviolet) lithography machine to the mainland market, so as to hinder the self-development process of China's domestic lithography machine.
If China's semiconductor industry wants to become independent and independent for a long time, independent research and development of lithography machines is an indispensable link. Although China has ordered more than 1,400 lithography machines from ASML and still has more than 35 billion euros worth of undelivered orders, this does not mean that China can rely on imported lithography machines. Historical experience tells us that over-reliance on advanced technology and equipment will lead to limited industrial development. Therefore, China's semiconductor industry must adhere to independent innovation and increase efforts to develop domestic lithography machines to maintain the competitiveness and development potential of the industry.
Looking back on the development of China's semiconductor industry, it is not difficult to see that compared with other countries, China's semiconductor industry started late, but it has made great progress in a short period of time. From the breakthrough of the 7nm process to the upcoming 5nm process, the rapid development of China's semiconductor industry has been recognized globally.
However, in order to further enhance its core competitiveness and technical level, China's semiconductor industry still faces many challenges. One of them is the research of self-developed lithography machine. As the core equipment of semiconductor manufacturing, the independent research and development of lithography machine will lay a solid foundation for the sustainable development of China's semiconductor industry.
In this era of increasingly fierce competition in the global semiconductor industry, China must be firm and confident, accelerate the pace and promote independent innovation. Only by mastering the core technology can we be invincible in the fierce market competition and realize the long-term development and strong rise of the semiconductor industry.
ASML's delivery of the world's first 2nm lithography machine represents a move towards a higher level of process technology for the semiconductor industry, and also highlights the importance of the Chinese market for ASML. However, if China's semiconductor industry wants to become independent and autonomous, independent research and development of lithography machines is indispensable. Although ASML's introduction of lithography machines to Chinese mainland will help alleviate the problem of insufficient chip production capacity, China must adhere to independent innovation and accelerate the development of domestic lithography machines to maintain the competitiveness and development potential of the industry. In the context of fierce competition in the global semiconductor industry, China's semiconductor industry must increase its efforts to innovate independently, master core technologies, and achieve long-term development and strong rise.