A few days ago, according to "China Daily" and other well-known media, ASML has obtained the license from the Netherlands to sell the advanced 2000i lithography machine, which can be used to produce 7-nanometer technology, and just a few days ago, a Chinese mobile phone company released It is really a coincidence that domestically produced 5G mobile phones use domestically produced 5G chips and 5G radio frequency chips.
Due to well-known reasons, this Chinese mobile phone company has been unable to obtain TSMC's foundry since September 15, 2020, resulting in the inability to produce its 5G chips; The 5G baseband chip cannot support 5G because the United States stopped selling 5G radio frequency chips to the Chinese mobile phone company.
For this reason, the mobile phone company has been committed to realizing the localized production of chips for many years. Now that three years have passed, the mobile phone company has released a 5G mobile phone, which means that both the 5G mobile phone chip and the 5G radio frequency chip have been localized. People speculate that this 5G chip and 5G radio frequency chip should be produced using a localized 7-nanometer process.
It is worth noting that the 5G mobile phone released by the mobile phone company was just a few days before the visit of US Secretary of Commerce Raimondo. Taking pictures of Raimondo with this domestic 5G mobile phone can be said to slap Lao Mei's mouth hard.
With the release of 5G mobile phones in China, it was reported at this time that ASML in the Netherlands has obtained a license and will be able to sell 2000i lithography machines to China before the end of this year. This is a more advanced lithography machine than the 1980Di that could be sold to China before. , 2000i can be used in the production of 7nm technology, and many news have been released in the past few days, and everything is not as simple as a coincidence.
In this regard, the author believes that the sudden change in ASML's attitude lies in the changes in the global chip industry. Due to the oversupply of the global chip market, the lithography institutions have stopped and the demand for lithography machines is declining. The lithography machine may therefore be forced to be placed in the warehouse to collect dust, which makes ASML panic.
According to public information, at the end of 2022, TSMC, the world's largest chip foundry, shut down multiple EUV lithography machines. Samsung snapped up 10 EUV lithography machines at the end of 2022, intending to expand counter-cyclically again, but at the beginning of this year, it was reported that the chip inventory was high. Had to cut production, showing that the demand for lithography machines is slowing down.
Of course, what makes ASML even more chilling is that it actively supports the United States, but the US chip industry is trying to bypass its EUV lithography machine. Micron has successfully developed a 1β process that does not require EUV lithography machines; recently, Intel has also reported that it is re-developing the DSA process. Bypass the EUV lithography machine. EUV lithography machines are ASML’s biggest profit. American chip companies don’t want them. Samsung and TSMC are reducing purchases. Advanced EUV lithography machines are not allowed to be sold to China, and DUV lithography machines are also restricted. What does this make ASML eat?
Of course, it should be China's release of localized 5G mobile phones that finally overwhelms ASML, which means that China's advanced lithography machines have entered the production line, but the output is not large. If ASML does not supply at this time, the last chance left to ASML is No more, so ASML suddenly announced at this time that it can supply 2000i lithography machines on a large scale. It can be said that ASML really knelt down and begged for mercy.
Facts have proved that as long as China insists on independent research and development, China will always be able to solve the key chip technology, and only when independent research and development progresses, European and American companies will completely relax restrictions, and even sell key equipment for cabbage prices, which will prompt China to accelerate. Independent research and development of technology, after all, the technology supply in Europe and the United States is not reliable, and only self-reliance can go further.