[News] China’s SiCarrier’s Bold Roadmap: ASML-Compatible Tools Reportedly Coming in 2026

With SiCarrier stealing the show at SEMICON China, the company has disclosed more details on its product roadmap. The Chinese chip equipment firm claims to have developed lithography machines for 300-mm wafers on 28nm processes and plans to launch an upgraded version compatible with ASML and Applied Materials by 2026, according to anue.

The report, citing SiCarrier’s Market Director Zhao Min, notes that the company has a dedicated team working on making its equipment fully compatible with those currently used by domestic fabs.

Citing SiCarrier’s CTO Chen Dong, the report suggests that the company has partnered with several fabs to set up joint labs and expects to announce its first batch of commercial orders by the fourth quarter, 2025.

Notably, SiCarrier’s clients include China’s foundry giants like SMIC and Hua Hong Group, with some etching equipment already in production for power semiconductor lines, according to anue. The company plans to expand its R&D centers to over 10 cities in the next three years and establish service centers in Europe and Southeast Asia, the report adds.

The low-profile chip tool company, founded in 2022, has a prestigious background. According to China’s Securities Times, Dai Jun, SiCarrier’s technology chief, also serves as a supervisor for China’s Big Fund II and a board member of local foundry giant SMIC. Meanwhile, an earlier Bloomberg report suggests that it is a state-backed semiconductor equipment developer collaborating with Huawei.

South China Morning Post notes that SiCarrier grabbed headlines in 2023 with a patent for making 5nm chips using DUV tools—a breakthrough linked to Huawei’s 7nm chip in the Mate 60 Pro.

As per Tom’s Hardware, at SEMICON China, SiCarrier stunned the crowd with a broad range of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, including metrology and inspection systems. While it kept lithography tools under wraps, Nikkei reports that the company already has litho machines capable of processing 300-mm wafers at 28nm and older process nodes.

But even without lithography machines on display, SiCarrier still offers a wide array of tools that cover nearly every step of the front-end semiconductor production process, along with metrology, inspection, and testing equipment, according to Tom’s Hardware.

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• [News] Decoding SiCarrier: China’s Chip Tool Firm Set to Challenge Applied Materials and ASML

(Photo credit: SiCarrier)