China Customs: China's semiconductor manufacturing equipment imports in Q3 2023 soared 93% to RMB 63.4 billion compared with the same period last year

According to recent news, although the United States, Japan and the Netherlands have all introduced policies to restrict the export of advanced semiconductor equipment to China, the amount of semiconductor equipment imported by China is still growing rapidly.

According to Nikkei, analysis of Chinese customs data shows that China's imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the third quarter of this year (July-September) soared 93% year-on-year to 63.4 billion yuan . In terms of product categories, imports of lithography equipment soared nearly four times .

In terms of countries, imports from the Netherlands soared more than 6 times. It is estimated that most of them are lithography products from ASML, the leading lithography company in the Netherlands. Semiconductor equipment imports from Japan grew by about 40%, while imports from the United States only grew by 20%.

Judging from the proportion of imports from China's semiconductor equipment source regions in the third quarter, the United States accounted for only 9%, far lower than 17% in 2021. Japan's share also dropped from 32% to 25%, while the Netherlands soared from about 15% to 30%.

ASML's third-quarter financial report also showed that its sales revenue from mainland China in the third quarter almost doubled from 24% in the second quarter (sales of approximately 1.345 billion euros) to 46% (sales of approximately 2.442 billion euros). It should be noted that sales revenue from mainland China accounted for only 8% in the first quarter of this year. This further highlights the rapid growth of demand for ASML's lithography systems in the mainland Chinese market.

It should be pointed out that the United States began to impose export controls on advanced chips/semiconductor equipment to China in October 2022, and Japan and the Netherlands followed suit this year. Semiconductor equipment takes half a year to a year from ordering to delivery, so it is expected that many manufacturers have already placed large orders for Dutch semiconductor equipment last year.

According to the new Dutch semiconductor export control regulations that came into effect on September 1 this year, ASML TWINSCAN NXT:2000i and subsequent immersion lithography systems need to apply for an export license from the Dutch government before they can be exported.

However, the NXT:1980 series and below models currently on sale are not affected. ASML's subsequent statement showed that although the export restrictions took effect in September, the company's existing license will allow it to continue to ship NXT:2000i and more advanced DUV lithography machines to China until the end of 2023 .

On the evening of October 17 this year, the US government issued the latest export control rules, updating the restrictions on related semiconductor equipment. This will also have a new impact on ASML's exports of related DUV lithography machines to China.

In this regard, ASML maintained the same statement as released on October 17 at the earnings conference:

“The potential impact needs to be carefully evaluated. For our business, based on the information received so far, we believe that the number of Chinese wafer fabs involved in advanced chip manufacturing that are subject to the new regulations is limited...ASML will further clarify the scope of these new regulations to the US government. ASML continues to be committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, including export control regulations.”

However, the statement from ASML that "the new regulations will apply to a limited number of wafer fabs in China related to advanced semiconductor manufacturing" means that the purchase of DUV equipment and components by a small number of advanced Chinese wafer fabs may be restricted.

Peter Wennink only said at the earnings conference that "1980Di will be subject to export control restrictions in principle, but only when used in advanced semiconductor manufacturing and only for a few applications. This means that 1980Di is only prohibited from export to a few wafer fabs, but can be exported directly to the vast majority of mainland China customers for sub-critical and mature processes without a license."

Chip Intelligence