Japanese companies compete for the lithography machine market and cannot part with China's cooperation
Preface. As we all know, China is the world's largest manufacturing plant, which also means that China has become the world's largest chip consumer market, and the total amount of chips needed for the development of Chinese technology enterprises every year is very huge.
According to national data, in recent years, China's total chip imports have exceeded 2 billion, which shows that the scale of operation of the domestic chip market is huge, and some time ago the United States changed the chip standard, which directly disrupted the balance trend of the development of the global chip industry, so that the global chip market began to reshuffle!
Dutch company ASML.
between China and the United States"Chip Wars"It's really hitting!In order not to give the mainland chip any chance to overtake in a corner, the United States can be said to have done everything possible to implement it some time ago"CHIPS Act", and even reached a special agreement with the Netherlands and Japan on the requirements for China's semiconductor sources"Lithography protocol"。
However, the ideal is plump, and the truth is skinny. Although the old American company ABACUS is playing loudly, the facts do not seem to be in line with its expected development direction, and even the Dutch ASML has been quietly exported for use"Launched"Zhongmao lithography machine. It is understood that the Chinese enterprise Shanghai Sekeda Semiconductor Co., Ltd. recently announced a good news: it has successfully acquired 6 lithography machines from ASML, and the equipment is on its way to China.
In the face of ASML's sudden move, the United States was in an uproar: we encountered an ally's"Betrayal", and the lithography machine agreement with a third party is useless. In fact, because of its stupid eyes, the United States is worried that ASML can make Biden work hard to make money first. As we all know, lithography technology is a prerequisite for chip production, and the more cutting-edge the chip, the more cutting-edge lithography technology is needed.
At present, there is an urgent need in China to manufacture high-end chips with EUV lithography technology below 10 nanometers, and ASML is the only company that can produce EUV lithography technology. But I don't know that in the past, under pressure from the United States, ASML did not dare to send **EUV lithography machines to Chinese mainland, so SMIC's lithography machine order information was silent for several years.
Nowadays, seeing the rise of Chinese chips, all the obstacles are insignificant and will only damage their own turnover, so some time ago, the president of ASML announced that this year has applied to the Dutch Embassy in China to open the sales of DUV lithography machines again!
That's right"There is money for everyone to earn"ASML has once again turned its attention to the Chinese mainland market, where lithography machines are in high demand. More importantly, now is a good time to return to our market. Because not long ago, Japan followed in the footsteps of the United States and officially launched the implementation of export restrictions on 23 kinds of semiconductor equipment (including lithography equipment), and the relevant process requirements are 45nm, far exceeding the previous 14nm limit in ASML.
Japan's Nikon continues to ship 195 lithography machines.
Japan has Nikon, Canon, and is also responsible for a number of semiconductor basic material technologies, and the self-sufficient chip industry is strong, actively participating in major sanctions from the United States, as early as July last year, in one breath in 23 semiconductor industries, the pursuit of up to 45 nanometers!
Japan's ** big words: I want Chinese semiconductors to become a lot of scrap iron!
Similarly, our good neighbors China and Japan are changing their faces at 180 degrees.
In the past, Japan's lithography machine industry accounted for half of the world's total. At that time, even ASML was difficult to compare with Japanese lithography machine manufacturers, but the decline of Japan's semiconductor industry chain was a cruel fact, and the lithography machine industry was also a drop in the bucket.
At this time, Japanese lithography machine manufacturers also gradually began to pay attention to the mainland market.
For example, Canon lithography machine, on the basis of the original closure of the Zhuhai factory 32 years ago, plans to invest 50 billion yen in the semiconductor industry to build a new factory and increase lithography machines and equipment.
In addition, they said they have also strengthened communication with customers in the mainland market to let them know about their lithography equipment. In addition, Canon has accelerated the development of lithography machines.
This step is considered to be the current stage of Canon's preparation to open up the mainland market.
With the advent of Huawei's 5G chips, Japan's arrogance is making a complete joke, and Nikon, the Japanese semiconductor industry giant, has also conceded to China, and they will not say it this time"Old iron"Rather, it refers to the continued delivery of 195 lithography machines!
Under the ban, Nikon has lost the opportunity, even if the opening restrictions in the future may not give ASML the opportunity to compete, the most important thing is that under strong pressure, the development of our domestic lithography machine is still accelerating.
At present, Intel has no way to save Nikon again, and if Japanese semiconductors do not realize this, then Nikon has also been reduced to the extent that Japanese semiconductors can only take semiconductor materials.
ASML will be extremely difficult to enter the Chinese mainland market again!
Perhaps the leaders of the Japanese lithography machine industry did not anticipate that the delivery operation was facing uncertainty. Some time ago, the United States was trying to persuade its allies to join the ranks of restricting company shipments, but it was rejected and perfunctory by many allies. Nippon Semiconductor is an exception. According to people familiar with the matter, the Japanese semiconductor's internal coordination is following the restrictions of the United States, which poses a threat to the shipment plans of the Japanese lithography giant.
ASML"Resistance"It is also gradually taking effect. Some time ago, the United States persuaded ASML to restrict supplies to the Chinese market, but ASML was opposed at first. But some time ago, ASML said that it could not change its attitude towards shipments in the Chinese mainland market, which is also counted"Resistance"。ASML has always adhered to this because the Chinese market accounts for an increasing proportion of its revenue, and there is a tendency to expand. As a result, ASML is reluctant to give up market share in China.
And the attitude of Japanese semiconductors makes ASML"Resistance"It worked. Japanese semiconductor companies are communicating and are ready to follow the old U.S. restrictions, which means that in the domestic market, ASML does not have to worry about the market share of the lithography industry leader. While deliveries will be limited, ASML will have another chance to start over.
At the end of the day, if all the lithography giants can't get there, they'll have to face the same starting line. But if ASML alone can't achieve its goals, while other industry leaders can, ASML will once again find it very difficult to enter the Chinese mainland market.
ASML is preparing to increase the production value of DUV lithography machines, and if the supply of DUV lithography machines is affected, future plans will be completely disrupted.
However, the rules regarding the content of the DUV lithography agreement have not yet been finalized, and no one knows what the future will look like. Until then, ASML intends to enlist more cooperation from its customers. As for the outcome, it depends on the customer's choice in the market.