The two ways of domestic chip industry chain go hand in hand. ASML really panicked and increased cooperation on a large scale

earlier ASML Large scale recruitment in China 200 Employees , Strengthen cooperation with Chinese chips , Strange , Two recent news about China's chip industry chain may help us solve our doubts , explain ASML Worried about losing China, the biggest customer , That's why we are strengthening cooperation on a large scale .

Lithography machine is the key equipment of chip manufacturing , At present, the lithography machines in the world are mainly composed of ASML Control , But for a variety of reasons ASML Unable to ship freely , China cannot learn from ASML Buy enough lithography machines , We can't buy advanced EUV lithography .

Faced with such a situation , China develops chip manufacturing in two ways at the same time , One way is to continue to improve our chip manufacturing industry chain , It is reported that seven of the eight links have been completed , Except for the lithography machine, it has reached 14nm Even more advanced technology , Among them, the etching machine has reached 5nm And has been recognized by TSMC .

At present, the key to hinder the domestic chip manufacturing industry chain is the lithography machine , But China's laser head in the lithography machine 、 Breakthroughs are being made in lens and other aspects , It is a matter of time before the lithography machine produced nationwide is produced , Shanghai microelectronics has developed 28nm lithography ,28nm Lithography machine can also be used in production 14nm process , so to speak 14nm The realization of national production is at hand , Hinder domestic chip manufacturing or for production 7nm And more advanced technology EUV lithography .

In addition to developing advanced lithography machines , China is also developing advanced processes that do not require lithography , Japan has already demonstrated this for us , Developed by Japanese armor man and related enterprises NIL The process can greatly reduce the cost without photolithography and has been put into production , This process can be advanced to 5nm, China is also actively promoting advanced technology without photolithography , The domestic core alliance technology has launched a project based on Hitoc To build the 3D 4f DRAM Used in the production of DRAM chip , This represents a major breakthrough in the process without photolithography in China .

Given that China has made progress in both ways of chip manufacturing , Just let ASML Feel panic , Therefore, a large number of people have been recruited in China recently , Strengthen the ability to provide services for Chinese chip enterprises , Further increase the supply of lithography machines to China .

2021 In, Chinese Mainland has surpassed Taiwan, China and South Korea to become ASML Our biggest customers , by ASML brought 290 Hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue , About... More than Taiwan, China and South Korea 250 Billion dollars, up more than 10% , Since this year, the oversupply in the global chip market has further highlighted the importance of Chinese chips for ASML Importance .

In the first quarter of this year, there was an oversupply in the mobile phone chip industry , Recently, the leading analog chip manufacturers in the United States have been forced to reduce prices by nearly 90% and sell out , Further highlight the arrival of chip surplus , The oversupply of chips will stop the expansion of global chip manufacturing , So China, the world's largest customer, will be more important , Because China is continuing to promote chip manufacturing as planned , There is still a great demand for lithography machines .

as for EUV The supply of lithography machines may also change ,ASML The second generation will be launched soon EUV lithography , first generation EUV Lithography machine is not the most advanced product , It is more likely to export to China ; For the first generation EUV Samsung in demand for lithography 、 TSMC and Intel All have been deployed , So the global market for the first generation EUV Only China is in demand for lithography machines , Because power connection 、 Chip manufacturing enterprises such as lattice chip have announced to stop research and development 7nm And more advanced technology , All these promote ASML Pay more attention to Chinese Mainland, a huge customer , Especially when the global chip market enters the downward stage , This customer in Chinese Mainland may become ASML Life saving straw .

It is precisely because of many changes in the market , Once arrogant that the lithography machine is not worried about selling ASML Now I start to look down , Continue to release goodwill to China's chip industry , Even now, a large number of people are recruited to enhance their ability to provide services for Chinese chips , It may even recruit people to ship the first generation to China in the future EUV Prepare the lithography machine , This is undoubtedly good news for Chinese chips .