Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group (SMEE), a state-backed firm, is on track to reveal its first scanner capable of producing chips on a 28nm process technology by the end of 2023, state-controlled the Global Times reports. The machine could help China reduce its dependency on foreign wafer fab equipment, Bloomberg noted.
SMEE is aiming to introduce the first domestically produced SSA/800-10W lithography machine to the market by the end of 2023, which would be a major breakthrough for the company, which currently only produces scanners good enough for 90nm nodes and older. The litho scanner is expected to use locally developed and produced components, which is why the stock price of China-based optical components manufacturers Mloptic, Kingsemi, and Castech were up on Wednesday.
For now, SMIC and Hua Hong can purchase 28nm-capable tools from abroad, but a local scanner would be more cost-effective. Furthermore, its emergence would mark SMEE's ability to leapfrog several generations of scanners and go straight from a 90nm-capable to a 28nm-capable machine. SMEE's reported breakthrough could be a significant step in developing self-reliant chip manufacturing, assuming that the company designed the device entirely in-house.
Founded in 2002, SMEE is China's leading lithography machine maker and is considered China's only potential competitor to ASML.
