All orders for lithography machines in China have been delivered, why is ASML so fast? The reason to be disclosed!
It is difficult for Chinese manufacturers to buy lithography machines from ASML, and extreme ultraviolet lithography machines cannot be given to Chinese manufacturers, let alone shipped to foreign companies in China.
Mainstream DUV lithography machines (2000 i and above) still need to be licensed, while older models such as the 1980 I (e.g., 1980 i) are no longer able to meet the requirements due to the large number of orders for lithography machines that ASML has received.
But at the end of 2023, ASML suddenly announced that Chinese manufacturers have completed all orders for lithography machines and shipped equipment with a total value of 55 billion euros to China.
China is ASML's largest market, as a large number of lithography machines are sent to China, and its full-year revenue increased by 3016% to 2755.9 billion euros, with a net profit of 7.8 billion3.9 billion euros.
When asked why ASML suddenly finds it difficult to sell lithography products to Chinese manufacturers, they replied:
First of all, with the signing of a tripartite agreement between the United States and the United States, which further restricts the ** of its DUV lithography equipment, the Netherlands has also announced that it will join the United States to implement export controls on related semiconductor products.
In other words, ASML will not have any chance if it does not ship the goods as soon as possible.
As a result, after obtaining a four-month license, ASML accelerated the delivery of lithography machines to domestic manufacturers, mainly focusing on lithography machines with 14 nm and higher processes in the early 80s.
However, ASML has also developed 2000 i and other 7 5 nm lithography machines, which TSMC has used to create the process technology required for the 7 nm process required for the 7 nm process, and has confirmed that the 5nm process can be used.
Secondly, the rapid breakthrough from Chinese manufacturers, especially Huawei's launch of the Mate60 Pro, as well as the Kirin 60 S chip, all show that China has the ability to manufacture high-end chips and make high-end semiconductor devices.
According to reports, China has the ability to manufacture Duvia lithography machines, which can shorten the chip manufacturing process to 7 nm and reach more than 7 nm.
ASML also said that chipmakers like Huawei will disrupt the entire world's industrial chain, although they admit that China is leading in lithography.
If this is the case, ASML will expedite the delivery of goods to this country.
At present, domestic lithography machines have occupied 80% of the domestic market, and if large-scale high-end lithography machines are used, they will inevitably have an impact on ASML's local market.
Third, although the demand for lithography from Chinese manufacturers is still large, the demand for EUV lithography has decreased due to the overcapacity of advanced processes.
Mr. Wei Zhe admits that new energy vehicles offer huge opportunities for mature processor chips, which have more opportunities than smartphones. China is the country that produces and sells the most new energy vehicles in the world.
With the rapid increase in domestic chips, local producers will continue to cut about 9 billion imported chips by 2023.
Seventy-five percent of the chips ordered by SMIC are provided by domestic manufacturers.
It can be seen that the output of domestic chips is increasing, and the demand for lithography process is also increasing.
In addition, Huawei and other domestic manufacturers are also studying how to reduce their dependence on lithography processes, including chip core layout, hyper-threading, advanced packaging, etc., to improve the efficiency of chips.
In contrast, the 5nm process does not improve the performance very much, but the cost is skyrocketing, which makes it difficult for TSMC to cooperate with TSMC, so TSMC did not buy NA-EUV lithography machines from TSMC.