Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group (SMEE), a state-backed firm, is on track to reveal its first scanner capable of producing chips on a 28nm process technology by the end of 2023, state-controlled the Global Times reports. The machine could help China reduce its dependency on foreign wafer fab equipment, Bloomberg noted.
SMEE is aiming to introduce the first domestically produced SSA/800-10W lithography machine to the market by the end of 2023, which would be a major breakthrough for the company, which currently only produces scanners good enough for 90nm nodes and older. The litho scanner is expected to use locally developed and produced components, which is why the stock price of China-based optical components manufacturers Mloptic, Kingsemi, and Castech were up on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, there is still uncertainty about whether the Shanghai-based firm can produce these machines at scale. Details about this technological advancement were not readily available on Wednesday, and the sources of information are the state-owned Global Times and Xinhua News Agency.
China's major chipmakers, such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and Hua Hong Semiconductor, all use equipment made abroad by companies like ASML, Canon, Nikon, and Tokyo Electron. However, the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands recently imposed restrictions on Chinese companies when it comes to sales of advanced wafer fab equipment. These restrictions essentially blocked access to 14/16nm-capable tools for China-based foundries.
For now, SMIC and Hua Hong can purchase 28nm-capable tools from abroad, but a local scanner would be more cost-effective. Furthermore, its emergence would mark SMEE's ability to leapfrog several generations of scanners and go straight from a 90nm-capable to a 28nm-capable machine. SMEE's reported breakthrough could be a significant step in developing self-reliant chip manufacturing, assuming that the company designed the device entirely in-house.
Founded in 2002, SMEE is China's leading lithography machine maker and is considered China's only potential competitor to ASML.
