China’s SiCarrier Shocks Chip Industry with Broad Chip Equipment Reveal at SEMICON 2025, Challenging ASML’s Lead

China’s top chip equipment manufacturer, SiCarrier, has launched an impressive array of chipmaking tools, marking a significant step towards advancing domestic semiconductor production.

## Challenging the Giants: SiCarrier’s Rise in the Chipmaking World

Over the past few years, China has made significant strides in the semiconductor arena, fueled by a drive to fortify its position against global influences. Companies like Huawei, SMIC, and several others have been pivotal in establishing China’s own chip production lines, showing considerable success. Yet, a firm that’s often overlooked is SiCarrier, believed to be supported by Huawei, which focuses on crafting chipmaking tools. Recently, at SEMICON 2025 in China, SiCarrier showcased its latest series of equipment, sending a clear message that they’re not stepping back.

A recent tweet from @zephyr_z9 highlighted an extensive release by SiCarrier, revealing a significant investment in their development strategy.

Within their newly unveiled catalog at SEMICON, as revealed by @zephyr_z9, SiCarrier has introduced various chipmaking tools. Among these is the Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) system, essential for semiconductor fabrications in integrated circuit technologies. The catalog lists a host of other tools, though notably excluding lithography equipment, suggesting that SiCarrier might be keeping this aspect under wraps. This new lineup aims to challenge industry leaders like ASML, Applied Materials, and LAM. However, it remains to be seen how these tools will impact the domestic market.

During the SEMICON event, SiCarrier’s President, Du Lijun, stated that their domestic chipmaking tools are capable of producing 5nm chips. Yet, relying on non-optical technology poses challenges, particularly with yield rates, making production more costly than international options. Nonetheless, SiCarrier is collaborating with SMIC and Huawei to tackle these issues. Given the significance of achieving chip production self-reliance for China, a breakthrough seems imminent.

Du Lijun shared, “There’s a possibility we could utilize non-optical technologies using our process equipment to address some lithography challenges.”

The core mission for SiCarrier is to shift the balance of semiconductor power away from countries like the Netherlands, a major supplier of chipmaking tools. Previous reports indicated that SiCarrier is collaborating with Huawei and the Shenzhen government to create custom EUV prototypes using laser-induced discharge plasma (LDP). This development marks a crucial step toward China developing its own EUV lithography equipment, which is a key hurdle in achieving advanced node production.