"Japanese chip equipment has made a lot of money in the Chinese market
In 2023, the United States will restrict the export of Japanese chip equipment and materials to China, but Japanese chip manufacturers understand that they can still make significant profits from the Chinese market. Although the Chinese market accounts for nearly 47% of its revenue, the company also expressed concern about the progress of Chinese chip manufacturing and the decline in revenue in the Chinese market, according to Tokyo Electron.
In 2023, the U.S. worked with Japan and the Netherlands to block the export of advanced chip-making equipment and materials to China**, despite an increase in exports to China at the end of 2023.
Panlin Group and Coray, two leading U.S. manufacturers of chip equipment and materials, said that in the third quarter of 2023, their revenue from the Chinese market increased by more than 50%, and Panlin Group's revenue from the Chinese market doubled and now accounts for more than 40% of its revenue.
In view of the huge profits of U.S. chip manufacturing equipment manufacturers in the Chinese market, ASML suddenly announced in September 2023 that it had obtained the export rights of 2000i lithography equipment that can be used in the 7nm process to China, and since then, ASML's lithography equipment and other Dutch chip manufacturing equipment exports to China have increased by 18 times in September, and ASML's exports to China have maintained an upward trend in the second three months of 2023 ASML's exports to China have maintained an upward trend in the second three months of 2023.
Japan's chip equipment industry does not want to lag behind, Nikon said that it improves the light source without American technology, so it can export some lithography machines to China, but Japan's strength is actually chip materials, the global chip materials market, Japanese companies hold 60% of the market, Tokyo Electron is a major chip material company, and Tokyo Electron's exports to China are also growing rapidly, it can be seen that they do not want to sit back and watch American chip equipment companies from the Chinese market to grab food.
Tokyo Electron is pleased to see that the company's performance in the Chinese market has improved significantly and has become profitable. The company plans to increase the number of employees to further capture the Chinese market and expects to increase revenue from the Chinese market in the current fiscal year, but also expressed concerns about changes in the global chip manufacturing equipment market.
First of all, after the beginning of this year, the United States immediately tightened restrictions on the export of advanced equipment to China, and ASML could not obtain an export license for advanced lithography machines to China, and ASML's exports to China decreased, but some time ago ASML received a large order of more than 50 billion yuan for the second-generation EUV lithography machine (2nm lithography machine). The company has announced new orders, which could offset losses in the Chinese market. Losses in the Chinese market.
Second, the technological progress of China's chip equipment and materials enterprises is rapid, and the number of China's local chip equipment enterprises will increase significantly in 2023, indicating that China's chip equipment and materials enterprises will accelerate import substitution, which will have a greater impact on Japan's chip equipment industry.
According to reports, in 2023, China's local chip materials companies will successfully develop materials such as 5-nanometer photoresists. Since the research and development of such materials is far less complex than lithography technology, and does not require the cooperation of many industrial chain enterprises, the rapid development of China's chip materials will have a significant impact on Japan's chip equipment and materials industry.
In recent years, the progress of China's chip industry has attracted worldwide attention, defeating memory chips, radio frequency chips and other industries.