According to reports, due to the limited production capacity of KrF photoresist and the active expansion of global wafer factories, Japanese supplier Xinyue Chemical, which accounts for more than 20% of the global market share of photoresist, has restricted the supply of KrF photoresist to a number of first-line wafer factories in mainland China, and has informed smaller wafer factories to stop supplying KrF photoresist.
Industry insiders said that in the future, a number of domestic wafer factories may face the situation of being out of stock of KrF photoresist. Tongcheng Xinliao, as the only manufacturer in China that can supply KrF photoresist, a number of wafer factories on the mainland are accelerating the verification and introduction of its subsidiary Beijing Kehua KrF photoresist.
Data show that Beijing Science and Technology Huacheng products cover KrF (248nm), l-line, G-line, UV broad-spectrum photoresist and supporting reagents, and are stable partners for top customers in SMIC, China Resources Shanghua, Hangzhou Shilan, Jilin Huafu Electronics, San'an Optoelectronics and other industries.
The reason why Shin Yue Chemical stopped supplying KrF photoresist from some wafer factories had a lot to do with the level 7. 3 Earthquake in the eastern waters of Fukushima, Japan in February. Earthquake caused Xinyue Chemical KrF photoresist production line to be damaged to a great extent, and production has not yet been fully resumed.
The above industry insiders also said that domestic wafer factories are facing a big shortage of KrF photoresist, in addition to Xinyue chemical KrF photoresist production line supply problems, a bigger reason is that in Japan's Fukushima Earthquake, KRF photoresist capacity supply is relatively tight.
The production capacity of wafer foundry continues to expand and the localization of photoresist has a long way to go.
Photoresist is the key material of semiconductor lithography process, which can be divided into g-line, I-line, KrF, ArF and EUV photoresist according to the exposure wavelength, and the latter three are high-end photoresist products.
At present, the global semiconductor photoresist is dominated by Japanese JSR, TOK, Sumitomo Chemistry, Shinyue Chemistry, and American Dow Chemistry. In our country, the self-sufficient rate of g-line and I-line photoresist for 6-inch silicon wafers is about 20%, the self-sufficient rate of KrF photoresist for 8-inch silicon wafers is less than 5%, and the ARF photoresist for 12-inch silicon wafers is completely imported.
In this context, the importance of supply chain security is self-evident.
On the other hand, due to the lack of global wafer foundry capacity, capacity expansion has been under way. Since the beginning of this year, in addition to TSMC, Samsung, Intel, United Power and other fabs, SMIC, Huahong Hongli, Guangzhou Yuexin and other local wafer factories have also actively expanded production and released production capacity.
The rapid expansion of domestic semiconductor production capacity and the demand for independent control of the supply chain have also brought development opportunities for the photoresist industry. In 2020, the revenue of the photoresist business of Jingrui, the industry leader, grew by 16.98%, much faster than in previous years and the highest since 2018. It shows that the industry is booming.
According to the forecast of Zhiyan Consulting, the market space of semiconductor photoresist in mainland China will be close to 5.5 billion yuan in 2022, double that in 2019.
The shortage of photoresist will continue for some time. According to the report on April 22nd, the domestic photoresist supply is extremely short. In the past, the amount of photoresist purchased by enterprises is about 100kg. Recently, due to the shortage of raw materials, each issue can only purchase 10kg-20kg.
Under the background that the security of semiconductor supply chain is getting more and more attention, on the one hand, China has issued a number of relevant policies to provide good policy support for the development of photoresist industry, on the other hand, the second phase of the layout planning of the National Integrated Circuit Fund clearly supports the domestic semiconductor material industry chain, including photoresist, and the research and development and mass production of domestic photoresist may be accelerated. Domestic manufacturers plan to expand investment in the field of semiconductor photoresist monopolized by Japan and the United States, and continue to make breakthroughs in R & D and mass production in the field of high-end photoresist.
Among the A-share listed companies, Tongcheng Xincai is in the forefront, its ArF photoresist has been mass produced, and KRF photoresist is still in the process of research and development; Shanghai Xinyang specializes in KrF and dry ArF photoresist, which has entered the stage of production capacity construction; Nanda Optoelectronics Company Ningbo Nanda Optoelectronics independently developed ARF photoresist has passed customer certification. Jingrui KrF photoresist has completed the pilot test, is entering the customer testing stage, ARF photoresist is still in the research and development process.
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