Overview
- Reports in late July say a Shanghai state-backed group led by Shanghai Aishengna has started limited mass production of immersion deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines with a target of about five units in 2026 and roughly 20 in 2027.
- The first machines are expected to be delivered this year to major Chinese chipmakers including SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor and ChangXin Memory Technologies for testing and integration into their fabs.
- Analysts and company sources say the Chinese systems currently trail Dutch maker ASML on performance, reliability and yield and will need months of qualification and supplier fixes before they can run continuous high-volume production.
- Financial markets reacted sharply with ASML shares dropping and billions wiped from its market value, but industry observers say the near-term commercial threat is limited because ASML ships far larger fleets and has years of field experience.
- The effort follows Western export controls that cut China off from EUV tools and helped create the business case for domestic DUV; a domestic EUV program remains at prototype stage and further policy moves such as the MATCH Act could shape how quickly China scales its tool ecosystem.