photolithography

Global leading chip equipment manufacturer ASML's Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen stated that the company opposes a proposal in the U.S. Congress to restrict its sales of DUV lithography equipment to China, believing it is a bad idea. This statement came during a conference call with reporters following the company's third-quarter earnings release.Dassen said that if the Match Act is passed after the U.S. midterm elections, it will accelerate the development of competitive technologies within China. He also expressed optimism that common sense would prevail. Reuters described the Match Act as a U.S. Congressional proposal to limit ASML's sales of DUV lithography equipment to China.

The Financial Times of the UK reports that Huawei is becoming more deeply involved in the domestic photolithography machine supply chain, not only investing in related equipment and component companies but also coordinating suppliers, wafer fabs, and complete machine manufacturers to promote domestic DUV into actual production lines. Bernstein analysts describe Huawei as the "project manager" for China's DUV projects.The fastest progress is being made by Shanghai Yuliangsheng. The company is involved in the development of domestic advanced DUV, with equipment already tested at wafer fabs such as SMIC and Huawei's own production lines, planning to produce 12 units by the end of this year. At this stage, the focus is primarily on simpler chips, with the ultimate goal of being used for advanced AI chip manufacturing.Currently, domestic DUV has not completely eliminated reliance on overseas supply chains. The projection lenses used by Yuliangsheng still come from Germany's Zeiss, and high-power light sources are also a major bottleneck. Huawei has invested in companies such as Qiqi Photon and Keyihongyuan to supplement domestic lenses and light sources.