Science Technology

Flipped, ASML will ship 100 lithography machines to China on a large scale, no longer following the lead of the United States

A few days ago, when ASML released its results, it said that it expected to sell 100 lithography machines to China this year to ensure that the income from the Chinese market remained stable, which was in sharp contrast to the fact that it had been rumored to be subject to the restrictions of the United States on the sale of lithography machines to China.
Flipped, ASML will ship 100 lithography machines to China on a large scale, no longer following the lead of the United States
ASML said that it expected to earn 2.2 billion euros from the Chinese market this year, 2.16 billion euros from the Chinese market in 2022, and sold about 100 DUV lithography machines, which is expected to remain at this level this year, which means that it will still sell 100 lithography machines to the Chinese market this year.
ASML plans to achieve the production capacity of 90 EUV lithography machines and 600 lithography machines by next year. Obviously, DUV lithography machine is still its main force. After all, DUV lithography machine is a very mature technology with low cost and high profit. To ensure its revenue growth, the Chinese market is very critical.
The Chinese market has become the largest chip equipment market in the world and is also the fastest growing market. The daily output of China’s chips has reached 1 billion, but the self-sufficiency rate of China’s chips has only reached about 30%. It is hoped that the self-sufficiency rate of 70% chips will be achieved by 2025, so China will need to double its chip capacity in the past two years, and the demand for chip equipment is very large.
The data of the first quarter of 2021 and 2022 showed that one third of ASML’s revenue came from the Chinese market. However, subject to the chip rules of the United States, the proportion of Q3’s revenue from the Chinese market in 2022 dropped rapidly to about 10%, which caused ASML to suffer huge losses.
Flipped, ASML will ship 100 lithography machines to China on a large scale, no longer following the lead of the United States
Later, the attitude of American chips made ASML think deeply. Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Synopsis and others have customized chips for the Chinese market and continue to earn income from the Chinese market; Intel said it expected China to purchase more chips in the second half of this year to reverse its loss-making performance.
Faced with the fact that American chips continue to make money from the Chinese market, ASML is certainly not reconciled. The Dutch Foreign Trade Minister also said that he would strive for the interests of his own enterprises; In 2022, the bidding of two Chinese chip companies also put pressure on ASML. The bidding results of these two chip companies showed that chip equipment orders were given to Japanese lithography companies and chip material companies in the United States, which made ASML more dissatisfied.
Recently, ASML said that it could still ship lithography machines to China before the formal signing of the agreement. At the end of 2022, ASML delivered lithography machines to three chip companies in China, all of which showed that ASML was striving to obtain revenue from the Chinese market. Now it said that it would ensure the sale of 100 lithography machines to China this year. Foreign media believed that ASML was going to show its cards to the United States.
This year, the global chip industry has seen some bad signs. Analysts predict that the global chip industry will decline by 25% this year, while China’s chip equipment market may remain stable, because in the downward phase of chips, chip equipment is cheaper and easier to buy. China plans to expand chip capacity against the trend, which makes many chip equipment manufacturers such as ASML have expectations for the Chinese market, At this time, ASML’s statement is undoubtedly to win the favor of Chinese chips.
Flipped, ASML will ship 100 lithography machines to China on a large scale, no longer following the lead of the United States
The fact shows that the fundamental interests of enterprises are still the interests. Facing the fact that the United States is tightening the chip rules while making money for American chips, ASML and other chip equipment enterprises will not be reconciled. Of course, for Chinese chips, the fundamental solution is to establish their own chip industry chain. As many enterprises such as Harbin Institute of Technology have solved the key technology of lithography machine step by step, I believe that China’s lithography machine will soon be mass produced. At that time, there will be no need to look at the face of the United States and ASML.