Semiconductor Manufacturing ASML is Gradually Getting Competition in China

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SIMTOS (Seoul International Machine Tool Show)

SiCarrier electrifies Semicon China: With over 30 new tools and big ambitions, the young Chinese company is attracting all the attention at Semicon—and wants to position itself as a future challenger to Western equipment manufacturers like ASML.

Never before has the rush been so great. Anyone who made their way through the halls of Semicon China 2025 this time could hardly miss the SiCarrier booth. On the last day of the fair, March 26, 2025, when emptiness had already spread among other exhibitors, hundreds of visitors were still crowding at the SiCarrier booth. Not even real machines were exhibited, just photos of equipment for chip manufacturing. Nevertheless, the rush was tremendous.

"This is our first product launch since the company's founding just over three years ago—and all the devices we show have already reached mass production," a SiCarrier employee told the newspaper Zhengquan Shibao. The great attention is explained by the surprising announcements that SiCarrier made at the fair: they are technically already close to global market leaders such as ASML, Applied Materials, or Tokyo Electron—at least in certain classes like the 28-nanometer process.

Make a Virtue out of Necessity

In Chinese industry media, SiCarrier's appearance at the fair is already being described as a "DeepSeek moment of the domestic semiconductor industry"—in reference to the LLM model of the same name, celebrated as China's answer to ChatGPT-4. That may be a bit exaggerated, but the development is undoubtedly very interesting. Since the USA, Japan, and the Netherlands have massively tightened their export controls for semiconductor technologies, China is pushing forward the development of its own production means. SiCarrier is also moving into this gap.

The company presented more than 30 new devices at the fair, including tools for etching, thin-film deposition (PVD/CVD/ALD), optical inspection, and metrology. According to SiCarrier, some of the tools are already in use by customers, even though not all process steps have yet reached mass production. A complete exhibition of physical lithography systems was still withheld at the fair. However, the company stated through its WeChat channel that it has litho tools for 300-mm (12 inches) wafers and 28-nm nodes that are "compatible with international standards." For 2026, they are already planning a platform that can compete with the technologies of ASML and Applied Materials.

Technological Protectionism

The media force with which SiCarrier pushes into the spotlight cannot be separated from the political context. In the so-called "chip war" between the USA and China, it is no longer just about smartphones and memory chips. Nationalistically thinking strategists on both sides see lithography capabilities as nothing less than a question of technological and strategic autonomy for their states.

The export ban on advanced lithography systems from the USA, Europe, and Japan—most recently also for DUV systems from ASML—has triggered a significant acceleration in China's own development efforts: massive investments, state backing, and a new generation of ambitious start-ups.

SiCarrier in the Spotlight

SiCarrier is one of them—with excellent connections in politics and industry. Founded in 2021, the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the "Shenzhen Major Industrial Investment Group," a state-owned investment company that is also involved in Huawei-affiliated semiconductor companies. The proximity to Huawei, to which both companies do not comment, can be seen in personnel matters, among other things. Several senior engineers moved from Huawei or SMIC, China's leading chip manufacturer, to SiCarrier. According to Nikkei Asia, one of them is also a member of the SMIC supervisory boards.

Despite the boom, some experts remain skeptical. The specialist portals Tom's Hardware and TrendForce point out that many of SiCarrier's devices are still in the validation phase. Also, as mentioned earlier, no actual lithography systems have been exhibited yet. "Of course, there are still many hurdles that Chinese companies need to overcome. We still don't see globally competitive DUV or EUV equipment, and there are also many questions about SiCarrier's actual performance," writes Technode.

But the strategic relevance of the company and its progress is obvious. While earlier hopefuls like "Shanghai Microelectronics Equipment" (SMEE) in Shanghai seem almost forgotten at the moment—their booth was nearly deserted this year—it is now SiCarrier that is reinterpreting the already known narrative with dozens of machine classes and its own R&D campus in Shenzhen: Chinese self-sufficiency instead of dependence on foreign countries.

SiCarrier's vision could be even greater: not only to replace foreign manufacturers but also to surpass and outperform them in the global market. The SiCarrier CTO stated that the company expects commercial orders from SMIC and Hua Hong, the two largest foundries in China, later this year. In the next three years, the company also plans to establish research centers in more than ten cities as well as service centers in Europe and Southeast Asia.

Real Competition?

A snapshot assessment would likely conclude: SiCarrier is still young and not yet a replacement for ASML but is very ambitious and has come surprisingly far. In just over three years, the company has reportedly built a manufacturing depth that other Chinese equipment manufacturers are still far from. State support and targeted industrial policy in China's tech metropolis Shenzhen have undoubtedly helped. Through the "Shenzhen Major Industry Investment Group," which has invested in SiCarrier, the Shenzhen city government aims to promote the development of local chip production.

But the hard work driven by a common goal of thousands of Chinese engineers was undoubtedly also necessary for these advances. SiCarrier does not only see itself in competition with the USA but also with other high-tech clusters within China, which could ultimately be the more important competition from the company's perspective. Whether SiCarrier's devices can actually compete with those of ASML or AMAT in the end remains to be seen. They would not only have to be demonstrated but also prove themselves in mass production.

But it is already certain that the pressure on Western equipment suppliers continues to grow. The attempt to keep China away from advanced lithography equipment from abroad may achieve short-term successes, but in the long term, it could become a boomerang for the USA, Europe, and Japan. (sb)

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