As the US and its allies are imposing export restrictions on semiconductor equipment, China increased its chipmaking tool imports over the past year and doubled its imports of lithography equipment from the Netherlands.
According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, excluding equipment for wafer and display manufacturing, China imported semiconductor equipment for IC manufacturing worth US$27.4 billion in 2023, up 46.48% from a year ago. Chinese imports of IC manufacturing equipment doubled every month since September, with imports in December, ahead of the month when the Netherlands' export curbs on advanced semiconductor equipment took effect, increasing by 190.27% in value terms and 29.28% in unit terms.
In 2019 and 2020, China imported 40 and 57 lithography machines from the Netherlands, respectively. The figure quickly rose to 93, 78, and 176 units in the following three years. During the past five years, China imported a total of 444 lithography machines from European trading partners. Besides lithography machines, China also imports other equipment for IC manufacturing, such as CVD equipment, dry plasma etching equipment, PVD equipment, and step and repeat aligners from the Netherlands.
The imports of lithography equipment from the Netherlands would have been higher if not for the US asking ASML to cancel the shipment of some DUV machines to China in December, which was confirmed by ASML in a statement.
Amid the rising demands for expanding the production in semiconductor manufacturing, China also witnessed a surge in ASPs for importing IC manufacturing equipment, as ASPs for equipment imported from the Netherlands rose from about US$14 million in 2022 to nearly US$30 million in 2023, highlighting a rise in imports of relatively high-end DUV machines when local demands for low-end equipment may have been met with local supplies.
Meanwhile, during 2023, the months with the fastest growth in China's import of Japanese semiconductor equipment were July and December. Japan's export curbs on semiconductor equipment took effect on July 23, 2023. Over the past year, Japan-based semiconductor equipment suppliers saw their sales generated in China rise, accounting for 30-50% of their revenues.
Source: General Administration of Customs of China, January 2024
Chinese imports of IC manufacturing equipment | ||||||
Commodity | 2022 | 2023 | ||||
Quantity | Value (US$m) | ASP (US$m) | Quantity | Value (US$m) | ASP (US$m) | |
CVD equipment | 1,667 | 3,718.21 | 2.23 | 1,780 | 4,875.03 | 2.74 |
Dry plasma etching | 1,600 | 3,749.16 | 2.34 | 1,476 | 4,396.10 | 2.98 |
Ion implanters | 2,425 | 1,062.88 | 0.44 | 425 | 1,331.63 | 3.13 |
Other apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices | 5,140 | 2,240.10 | 0.44 | 4,055 | 3,523.68 | 0.87 |
Other apparatus used for projecting circuits onto semiconductor materials for manufacturing semiconductors or ICs, primarily lithography machines | 904 | 2,547.57 | 2.82 | 794 | 7,098.57 | 8.94 |
Other etching and stripping equipment for manufacturing semiconductors or IC | 778 | 874.58 | 1.12 | 502 | 785.57 | 1.56 |
Other film deposition equipment for manufacturing semiconductors or ICs | 179 | 251.55 | 1.41 | 184 | 517.68 | 2.81 |
Oxidation, diffusion, annealing, and other heat treatment equipment for manufacturing semiconductors or ICs | 1,859 | 1,743.16 | 0.94 | 1,735 | 1,810.09 | 1.04 |
PVD equipment | 771 | 1,102.40 | 1.43 | 638 | 1,405.95 | 2.20 |
Step and repeat aligners | 331 | 1,415.53 | 4.28 | 296 | 1,655.88 | 5.59 |
Source: General Administration of Customs of China, January 2024
Chinese imports of IC manufacturing equipment by exporters | ||||||
2022 | 2023 | |||||
Exporter | Quantity | Value (US$m) | ASP (US$m) | Quantity | Value (US$m) | ASP (US$m) |
Japan | 5,320 | 5,892.35 | 1.11 | 4,871 | 7,519.87 | 1.54 |
US | 2,552 | 2,970.95 | 1.16 | 1,947 | 2,854.35 | 1.47 |
Netherlands | 186 | 2,564.00 | 13.78 | 244 | 7,241.69 | 29.68 |
Source: General Administration of Customs of China, January 2024
