Amid increased U.S. restrictions on China’s semiconductor industry, Chinese chip equipment manufacturers are witnessing a notable uptick in domestic orders. Over the first eight months of this year, Chinese chip equipment managed to capture nearly half of all orders. This serves as a compelling sign that the fears expressed by companies such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel about losing ground to domestic rivals in the Chinese market are materializing.

On October 17th, the Biden administration tightened chip export rules, barring American companies, including NVIDIA, from selling AI chips to China. At the same time, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) placed 13 Chinese GPU firms on its Entity List, further unsettling global semiconductor and AI supply chains. Ironically, these moves could expedite China’s domestic AI chip industry’s advancement amid the pressure.

Huatai Securities’ analysis reveals that Chinese chip foundries have been winning an increasing number of bids for machinery equipment this year. In the first eight months of this year, they secured 47.25% of these bids, with the percentage soaring to 62% in August. In comparison, during March and April, the rate was only 36.3%. This trend reflects a turning point for China’s chip equipment industry and showcases its rapid transition towards self-sufficiency.

As per Reuters, insiders disclosed that prior to the U.S. export bans, China’s advanced chip foundries rarely utilized domestic equipment, reserving it for expanding production. Yet, in reaction to the ongoing restrictions, they’ve proactively started testing homegrown equipment on all foreign devices and plan to fully replace foreign gear with domestic alternatives. This transition has greatly boosted local firms such as AMEC and NAURA.

Analysts observe that China’s local equipment makers have notably enhanced their production capacity, especially in wet etching and cleaning, positioning them for global competition with U.S. counterparts. What’s more, the quality of Chinese-made equipment has surpassed expectations, often advancing by up to two years. The substantial revenue growth in the sector attests to China’s remarkable progress in the semiconductor equipment industry.

Nonetheless, photolithography equipment remains a field where China’s domestic equipment struggles to break through due to its demanding requirements for optical and process precision. China has faced challenges in procuring extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines crucial for manufacturing cutting-edge chips. The situation is further complicated by the joint efforts of the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, and other allies to restrict the export of advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines to China.
(Image: AMEC)

The traditional method of extending electronic devices’ battery life via reducing power consumption and increasing battery capacity has now reached its limits. In response, the fast charging industry is now looking to adopt fast chargers equipped with GaN chips as the latest mainstream solution that can further improve device battery life, with the demand for GaN chips recently seeing a progressive rise as well. At the 2021 Global Third Generation Semiconductor Fast Charging Industry Summit, major Chinese GaN solution supplier Innoscience announced the release of four GaN chips used in fast chargers: INN650D150A, INN650DA150A, INN650D260A, and INN650DA260A. All four chips have a maximum voltage of 650V, while their package dimensions mainly range from DFN 8×8 to DFN 5×6.

Established in 2015, Innoscience specializes in GaN chip design and manufacturing. The company’s GaN on Si process technology makes it one of the leading third-generation semiconductor IDMs in China. As geopolitical tensions escalate between China and the US, accelerating the development of domestic semiconductor supply chains has now become one of the top priorities for China. More specifically, due to the heavy usage of third-generation semiconductors such as SiC and GaN across the telecom, energy, and EV industries, the Chinese government has been aggressively fostering the growth of companies specializing in these semiconductors, with Innoscience becoming one of the leading suppliers chosen by the government.

GaN fast chargers released by Chinese brands at the moment, such as the Meizu GN01 and ROCK RH-PD65W, all feature GaN chips manufactured by Innoscience. Given China’s continued push for domestically manufactured semiconductor substitutes, Innoscience is expected to seize considerable shares in the rapidly growing GaN fast charging market in China.

Navitas and Power Integrations possess the greatest competitive advantages in the global GaN fast charging chip market

Founded in Ireland, IC design company Navitas has seen its GaN chips widely adopted in GaN fast chargers in recent years. For instance, Xiaomi’s 65W GaN charger contains Navitas’ NV6115 and NV6117 GaN chips, while Lenovo’s Thinkplus 65W charger also contains Navitas’ NV6125 GaN chips. At the moment, Navitas solutions are used by major brands including Xiaomi, OPPO, Lenovo, ASUS-Adol, and Dell, as well as by peripheral manufacturers including Anker and Baseus. TrendForce estimates that Navitas GaN chips reached a 50-60% share in the GaN charger market in 2020, making Navitas the largest supplier of GaN charger chips in the world.

Power Integrations, a US-based IDM, specializes in power semiconductor devices and possesses relatively mature GaN chip integration technologies. Power Integrations manufactures products with relatively smaller PCBA dimensions due to their reduced number of discrete components. By adopting Power Integrations’ GaN chips, charger manufacturers are in turn able to reduce the size of their chargers in order to deliver solutions that are more mobile and more convenient, making these chargers a perfect fit for fast charging needs of smartphones and notebook computers.

TrendForce, therefore, holds a positive outlook towards Power Integrations’ future potential. Power Integrations’ GaN chips are primarily used in peripherals manufactured by Aukey, Ugreen, IINE, and Remax, although they will likely enter the smartphone and notebook markets in the future due to Power Integration’s competitive advantage in technological integration.

（Cover image source: Unsplash）