Factbox: Chinese chipmaking equipment manufacturers filling void left by U.S. export restrictions

ACM Research

06/03/2023 02:13

SHANGHAI, March 6 (Reuters) - The United States is
working to expand its restrictions on the export of chipmaking
equipment to China by securing cooperation with the Netherlands
and Japan, forcing Chinese chipmakers to turn to domestic
suppliers such as those listed below.
    
    SHANGHAI MICRO ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT (SMEE)
    SMEE is China's only producer of lithography machines used
in semiconductor manufacturing, making it the country's only
potential competitor to the Netherlands' world-leading
lithography machine maker ASML Holding NV  ASML.AS . However, it
remains well behind ASML and Japanese peers.
    It has developed machines capable of producing chips at the
90 nanometre node standard, its website showed. That technology
was perfected roughly 20 years ago and is sufficient for low-end
chips useful for some power-management purposes.
    The firm sells the majority of its lithography machines to
chip packaging plants who use them for the much simpler task of
wiring chips into final products, industry sources said.
    SMEE did not respond to a request for comment.
    SMEE was established in 2002 by He Rongming, a former vice
president at Shanghai Electric Group Co Ltd  601727.SS . Its
largest shareholder, owning 32%, is the Assets Supervision and
Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), which
oversees state-owned enterprises.

    NAURA TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO LTD  002731.SZ 
    Founded in 2001 and listed in 2010, Naura primarily makes
etching equipment in competition with the United States' Applied
Materials Inc  AMAT.O  and Lam Research Corp  LRCX.O  as well as
Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd  8035.T .
    Naura's most advanced etching machine supports 55 nm and 28
nm chipmaking technology, well behind the leading edge of chip
manufacturing.
    The firm also makes deposition machines, which apply
chemicals and gases to silicon wafers throughout the chipmaking
process. It produces machines that can service the 14 nm to 28
nm process nodes of its deposition machines.
    Beijing Sevenstar Electronics is its biggest shareholder,
followed by a state-led fund that invests in the chip industry.
    
    ADVANCED MICRO-FABRICATION EQUIPMENT INC CHINA (AMEC)
 688012.SS 
    AMEC makes etching equipment used to remove excess material
from the surface of silicon wafers.
    Some of its machines have entered production lines for chips
as advanced as those using 5 nm technology, its January-June
2022 earnings report showed, making it technologically closer
than Chinese peers to competing with Lam Research and Applied
Materials.
    However, AMEC's market share is dwarfed by overseas rivals.
In 2021, it generated 3.1 billion yuan ($444.9 million) in
revenue, roughly 2.5% that of Applied Materials.
    AMEC was founded in 2003 by Gerald Yin, a naturalised U.S.
citizen. It is roughly 15% owned by China's "Big Fund" for chips
and 15% owned by a technology venture capital firm affiliated
with the Shanghai government.
    
    BEIJING E-TOWN SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY CO LTD (BEST)
    BEST produces degumming equipment used to remove photoresist
chemicals during the lithography process. This segment accounted
for over 47% of its 2020 revenue, an investment prospectus
showed.
    The firm also produces etching machines, though they account
for only a single-digit percentage of revenue.
    BEST was founded in 2015. Its largest shareholder is Beijing
E-Town Capital, a venture capital fund under the Beijing
municipal government that has invested in a number of chip
firms.
    
    ACM RESEARCH INC  ACMR.O 
    ACM designs equipment to clean wafers in competition with
Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, Japan's Screen Holdings Co Ltd
 7735.T  and South Korea's Mujin Electronics Co Ltd  MUJIN.UL .
    Most of its revenue comes from a small number of customers
in mainland China, namely Huahong, SMIC and YMTC, a stock
exchange filing showed. It has also sold equipment to South
Korea's SK Hynix Inc  000660.KS .
    ACM was founded in 1998 in California by U.S. citizen David
Wang and went public on the NASDAQ in 2017. Its Shanghai-based
subsidiary  688082.SS  went public on the STAR market in 2021.
    ACM Research owns 80% of the Shanghai subsidiary, while
China's Big Fund and a number of other government-related funds
hold single-digit shares the Chinese entity. The two companies
have different boards of directors.
    While ACM's headquarters are the United States, almost 90%
of its staff are based in mainland China and Taiwan, and most of
its research and development and sales take place in those
locations, the company said in its 2021 annual report.


($1 = 6.9684 Chinese yuan renminbi)

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ANALYSIS-China's chip sector needs more than state money to dull
impact of US restrictions     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N3515OU
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 (Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
 ((Josh.Horwitz@thomsonreuters.com; +86 21 20830007;))