Not only Japan, but also the new technology of Chinese companies have successfully got rid of lithography machine . Will ASML be "defeated"?
Domestic science and technology has experienced rapid development in recent years, but behind the seemingly prosperous prosperity, there are also many hidden dangers hidden. The problem of "lack of core and lack of soul" that has troubled us for a long time has not been solved well so far. The technological competition among enterprises has been put on the table.
China's industry started late, which also led to an unstable foundation in the semiconductor field. As a result, the most advanced process technology was stuck at 14nm, and it was highly dependent on overseas technology. Huawei was too late before. Believing too much in "technology knows no borders" has led to big losses.
Huawei has the ability to design cutting-edge 5nm chips, but it cannot manufacture them at all with domestic processes. It has not been able to deploy the entire industry chain, which has also rendered advanced technology useless. Fortunately, Huawei has become accustomed to "technological innovation". Didn't get into trouble because of this.
, under the relevant restrictions of the United States, has accelerated Huawei's growth. 5G technology has become more sophisticated and has firmly established itself as the leader. It is at least 2-3 years ahead of Europe and the United States in technology. In addition to its achievements in the 5G field, Our country has also achieved catch-up in aerospace and other fields.
To put it bluntly, the current technological competition is based on chip technology. Whoever can obtain more advanced chips will be able to control the overall situation in the future. At present, domestic companies are also launching a comprehensive sprint in the chip field. Well News also continued to spread.
ASML’s situation
When it comes to advanced chip manufacturing, we have to mention EUV lithography machines. As the only manufacturer in the world, ASML has been subject to strict control over the import and export of equipment by the United States and cannot obtain advanced lithography machines. , and also brought the domestic chip industry to a standstill.
Nowadays, Lao Meiyi is reshaping the local semiconductor industry. Therefore, there is basically no possibility of liberalizing the supply of EUV lithography machines in the short term. The reason is that ASML is only an assembly plant and the lithography machines are assembled. Cutting-edge products from more than 20 countries around the world.
ASML has previously admitted that more than 85% of the components of the product are jointly developed from the global supply chain, and the core technologies are all provided by the United States. The United States has also used this to turn its back on customers and completely control the lithography machine of import and export.
The birth of new technology in China
It is reported that domestic Xinmeng Technology has officially announced a new technology, which is a 3D 4f DRAM architecture technology based on Hitoc technology, which can be used to produce DRAM chips without the need for photolithography in the entire process. machine, and there is no need to perform complex multi-pattern exposure SAQP steps.
The NIL technology previously developed by Japanese companies Kioxia and Canon has been verified to be able to produce 5nm chips without the use of EUV lithography machines. Mass production of 15nm chips has now been achieved.
Although it may not be at the same level technically, the technology of Chinese companies and Japanese companies have already gone in the same direction. After this technology is officially applied, it will be able to better realize the "de-beautification" of technology. ”, and can also reduce dependence on ASML.
ASML may be defeated
SMIC spent 1 billion a long time ago to order an EUV lithography machine from ASML. However, two or three years have passed and there is still no news of any shipment. 2024 is about to usher in A new generation of EUV lithography machines has arrived, but the hope of domestic imports is still slim.
According to news from ASML, the price of the latest generation of lithography machines will exceed US$400 million. By then, there will be very few companies that can afford it. The high pricing caused by the monopoly has also become a problem for various countries to start lithography. One of the important factors of carving nature.
As the originator of lithography machines, Japanese companies have officially announced that they will restart the research and development of lithography machines. The Russian market and Chinese companies have successively launched technology research and development. ASML has obviously realized the seriousness of the problem, not only in terms of words "Knocking" the old United States, but it did not have the slightest effect.
China is the largest consumer market for chips. In the first quarter of 2022, its import volume reached US$134.5 billion. In addition to the chips produced and sold domestically, the amount of chips consumed every year is huge. After the domestic production plan is accelerated, the The demand for lithography machines will continue to grow.
According to the financial report released by ASML, in the first quarter of this year, the domestic market contributed more than 50% of the share, reaching 1.35 billion euros in revenue. A total of 62 lithography machines were exported to the global market, of which 20 Taiwan is shipped to the Chinese market.
It is a pity that among so many lithography machines, none is an advanced EUV lithography machine. Currently, domestic DUV lithography machines are about to complete mass production. If ASML cannot obtain the shipment authorization for EUV lithography machines, follow-up Market share will be further reduced.
The current global industrial focus has gradually shifted to the Chinese market, which has always been known as the "world's factory". Therefore, the consumption of chips will further increase. US companies have already suffered heavy losses under relevant restrictions. Once the industry The chain advantage has also been lost, and the position of US companies in the global market will no longer exist.
The same is true for ASML. In terms of the current situation, it is impossible to get rid of American technology. Chinese companies will definitely continue to accelerate the advancement of photolithography machine technology. By then, ASML will also suffer the same fate as American companies. Are you aware of this? What do you think?
