This week it became known that China is close to creating its own machines for producing 8nm chips. A new sample will appear in the catalog of equipment recommended by the Chinese authorities for the production of chips, with an interlayer alignment accuracy of 8 nm and a resolution of 65 nm. This news immediately caused an increase in the stock price of those Chinese companies that are in one way or another connected with the production of chips.
Image Source: SMIC
According to Reuters, morning trading on Wednesday showed the share price of Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Development and Shanghai Highly Group rising by the maximum allowed value during one trading session – by 10%. Sanhe Tongfei Refrigeration shares rose 20% and also hit the daily limit. Shenyang Blue Silver Industry Automation Equipment rose 10.7%. The shares of Changchun UP Optotech Co. also increased in price proportionally, and the securities of Sai Micro Electronics Inc. strengthened in price by 5.3%. Lithography equipment supplier Naura Technology Group saw its stock rise by just 1%, while China’s largest contract chipmaker SMIC rose a modest 1.9%.
As representatives of Bloomberg add, previously the Chinese SMEE offered lithographic systems with a resolution of 90 nm, and a new system from an unknown Chinese manufacturer improved this figure to 65 nm. Note that ASML’s advanced lithographic scanners provide a resolution of about 8 nm, so the Chinese industry is still far from catching up with its Dutch competitor. RHCC experts believe that China lags behind world leaders in this area by at least 15 years. Still, the progress, however modest, is encouraging for investors in the Chinese semiconductor industry.