SiCarrier in China Unveils Comprehensive Chip Equipment Lineup at SEMICON 2025, Challenging ASML’s Market Leadership

China’s leading producer of chipmaking equipment, SiCarrier, has just rolled out an impressive suite of tools aimed at elevating the country’s semiconductor manufacturing capabilities.

SiCarrier: China’s Rising Power in Chipmaking, Challenging Industry Titans like ASML

Lately, China’s semiconductor sector has been gaining significant momentum, largely driven by the country’s determination to minimize global reliance. Companies like Huawei and SMIC have been instrumental in establishing homegrown chip production infrastructures, achieving notable success. Among these industry giants is SiCarrier, a firm reportedly supported by Huawei, which focuses on crafting chipmaking machinery. At this year’s SEMICON 2025 event in China, SiCarrier unveiled a new array of equipment, underscoring its intent to forge ahead.

A recent tweet from user @zephyr_z9 highlighted SiCarrier’s extensive new line of chip tools, which includes cutting-edge Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) systems crucial for semiconductor fabrication. While the lineup boasts an array of equipment, it notably excludes lithography tools—a possible strategic move by SiCarrier to keep certain initiatives under wraps. These offerings place SiCarrier in direct competition with established players like ASML, Applied, and LAM, but how these tools will perform in the local market remains to be seen.

During SEMICON, Du Lijun, the President of SiCarrier, asserted that their domestic equipment is capable of manufacturing 5nm chips. However, the use of non-optical technologies presents challenges with the yield rate, potentially making their output costlier than that of global competitors. Yet, SiCarrier is collaborating with SMIC and Huawei to find a solution. Considering China’s high stakes in achieving semiconductor independence, a breakthrough is anticipated soon.

Du Lijun commented to Reuters about exploring non-optical technologies with process equipment to resolve some lithography issues.

A key goal for SiCarrier is to shift the semiconductor industry’s focus away from countries like the Netherlands, known for their pivotal role in providing chipmaking tools. Previously, we reported on SiCarrier’s collaboration with Huawei and the Shenzhen government to craft unique EUV prototypes using laser-induced discharge plasma (LDP). This initiative marks China’s initial step towards developing its own EUV lithography technology, potentially the last barrier to producing state-of-the-art nodes independently.