Chinese companies have drastically increased their imports of chip production equipment, spending nearly $26 billion in the first seven months of the year, according to a Bloomberg report citing data from China’s General Administration of Customs. This surge marks a new record, surpassing the previous peak set in 2021, as these companies prepare for potential further restrictions from the U.S. and its allies on advanced chipmaking tools.
Chinese companies have particularly focused on acquiring lower-end semiconductor equipment used to make chips on mature process technologies from suppliers like ASML Holdings, Applied Materials, and Tokyo Electron. This shift to mature nodes allows Chinese fabs to develop and supply chips to other sectors of the Chinese economy, namely the automotive industry.
