By Li Panpan
(JW Insights) Nov 9 -- The Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML delivers lithography machines, computational lithography, and measurement machines in China to meet the growing needs of local customers, Shen Bo, global senior vice president of ASML and president of China, told JW Insights in an interview.
Shen accepted the interview during the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10.
ASML currently has over 1,600 employees in the country. To meet the growth needs of China's integrated circuit industry, ASML focuses on improving yield and production capacity and provides customers with panoramic lithography solutions, namely lithography, computational lithography, and measurement machines, to help Chinese manufacturers produce smaller, more powerful, and smarter chips, said Shen. Computational lithography plays a vital role in the lithography process.
Data shows that ASML established the first computational lithography development center in Shenzhen in 2004, and it has become ASML's largest dedicated software development center in Asia. ASML's other computational lithography development center in China is located in Wuhan, middle China's Hubei Province.
Lithography tools' complexity and beauty are also reflected in the measurement process. ASML has optical measurement technology, which is fast, and electron beam measurement technology, which is with lower speed but higher transmittance that ensures higher accuracy in defect detection.
ASML has four electron beam measurement development centers in the world, and one of them is located in Beijing, specializing in developing critical components of electron beam systems.
Driven by the development of mature process market segments, Chinese customers' demand for DUV lithography systems has hit a record high and will remain strong in the foreseeable future.
There is no doubt that ASML's deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography system is mainly needed in the Chinese market. Over the years, ASML has provided Chinese customers with high-quality photo-lithography machines and related products under the premise of complying with relevant laws and regulations, helping customers manufacture chips of different nodes and technologies under mature processes, and achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement, according to Shen.
Peter Wennink, CEO of ASML, said in the Q3 earnings conference call, "In the past two years, the market demand satisfaction rate, including Chinese customers, has been less than 50%. The demand for DUV systems in China continues to be strong, especially this year. Most orders for the shipped systems were booked in 2022."
Shen Bo said the first ASML stepper lithography machine entered China in 1988. By the end of 2023, ASML's installed capacity of lithography machines plus measurement machines in China will be close to 1,400.
Now, ASML has 16 offices in China, 12 warehousing and logistics centers, three development centers, one training center, and one maintenance center. Its total number of employees in China exceeds 1,600, said Shen.
It's the fourth time for ASML to participate in CIIE. CIIE has set up the integrated circuit section since 2021, and this year, the area of nearly 10,000 square meters gathered many vital players in the upstream and downstream of the chip industry, such as Intel, Qualcomm, AMD, Texas Instruments, ADI, Micron, Samsung, Nikon, and ASM Pacific Technology.
