Korean companies are blocked, and SK hynix fights back: it can meet without relying on EUV lithography machines.
While the South Korean company was stuck in the neck, SK hynix was fighting back: they could do without EVU lithography.
Korean company"neck"？The idea of the American SK Hynix is simple: they don't want EVU lithography!
AMSL is the only company capable of manufacturing EUV lithography machines, but as the world's top industrial equipment, ASML has achieved only 10% autonomy, and most of its components rely on the ** chain, with the United States accounting for the vast majority.
After the ban on tablets began, ASML lost the right to ship in its own name, especially customers in the Chinese mainland market, who had to obtain the corresponding authorization from the US side to obtain the required equipment, which damaged the friendly business relationship between the two parties as much as possible.
In this business competition, South Korean companies have been neutral, enforcing the rules regarding tablets in a conservative manner and maintaining shipments to the Chinese market, which is also very beneficial to help maintain market share.
And the United States and South Korean companies have not been wiped out, they took the initiative to give the mainland market a one-year exemption period when the time is ripe, and then granted an indefinite exemption, but even so, Samsung, SK hynix's factories in Chinese mainland, when importing EVU lithography machines, the problem is still not solved.
Unable to import state-of-the-art EUV lithography machines to the Chinese mainland market, these South Korean companies were forced straight in"Dead end"。
The market has higher and higher requirements for wafer performance, and for both Samsung and SK hynix, there is an urgent need to improve processing technology, and the large-scale ordering of EUV lithography machines will greatly affect the subsequent production capacity without a Chinese factory.
The reason why the United States will be forced to intervene is that within the current scope of Chinese mainland, there is no EUV lithography technology so far, that is, we have not been exposed to this level of technology, once the critical point is passed, China's technology at the lithography technology level can be improved, so Biden's team does not dare to try easily.
The Biden team believes that this situation will leave South Korean companies"Out of breath"While both Samsung and SK hynix have said they will look for alternative markets, it is more certain that production capacity will not be withdrawn from Chinese mainland.
To put it simply, it is to transport part of the production capacity from the Chinese factory to South Korea for ultraviolet irradiation, and then send it to Chinese mainland to complete the final process, although this process requires a certain cost, but it also perfectly solves the problem of the ban on semiconductors in the United States.
After SK hynix achieves results, many companies will certainly follow suit, and even if the ban on lithography machines is not lifted, the United States will not be able to prevent high-end products from being shipped to the Chinese market, which will not benefit anyone.