BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - SiCarrier, a Chinese chip

equipment maker with close links to Huawei, has created a stir

with the breadth of its planned product range.

Its efforts to become a one-stop shop for all tools needed

to semiconductors illustrate how the sector - still relatively

young in China - is responding to President Xi Jinping's call to

reduce the country's reliance on foreign suppliers.

Here is an overview of China's chip equipment sector,

including some of its main players:

HOW MUCH MARKET SHARE DO CHINESE FIRMS HAVE?

Domestically made wafer fabrication equipment accounted for

just 11.3% of purchases by China last year, according to data

from consultancy TechInsights.

That is, however, up from 5.1% in 2020 when the U.S. started

curbing chip sector exports, prompting China to begin pouring

billions more into its domestic industry.

China has been the biggest buyer of wafer fabrication

equipment for the past two years. In 2024, it purchased $41

billion worth of tools, accounting for 40% of global sales,

according to TechInsights.

WHAT IS CHINA'S MAIN WEAKNESS IN THIS SECTOR?

ASML of the Netherlands is the world's sole

manufacturer of the most advanced lithography systems that make

patterns on substrates. But the U.S. has, since 2019, blocked

ASML from selling its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography

tools to China.

That forced Chinese firms to import less sophisticated deep

ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems to make 7-nanometre chips.

Last year, Washington also denied China access to ASML's

advanced immersion DUV machines.

Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group (SMEE), China's

only company with commercially available lithography systems,

has equipment that can support the production of 90 nm chips,

well behind ASML.

SiCarrier's patents indicate it is working on DUV

lithography systems, but the startup has yet to unveil those

products.

An advanced semiconductor production line needs more than

3,000 tools spanning patterning, process and inspection. China's

self-sufficiency ratio for equipment capable of manufacturing

chips of 7nm or below is still less than 10%, according to

consultancy IDC.

WHAT TOOLS ARE CHINESE COMPANIES SHOWING PROMISE IN?

China's self-sufficiency ratio for equipment used in

photo-resist removal and cleaning has reached 50%, according to

Galen Zeng, a senior semiconductor analyst at IDC.

Naura and ACM Research Shanghai are

among domestic providers of such tools.

Naura has the broadest product portfolio covering

deposition, which layers thin films on silicon wafers, and dry

etching as well as thermal processing and cleaning. Its revenues

hit 29.8 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) in 2024, five times more

than in 2020.

Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc (AMEC)

is another large Chinese chip equipment maker. It focuses on dry

etching tools that remove excess material from the surface of

silicon wafer, but is also rapidly expanding in deposition

equipment.

AMEC's revenues have also jumped, quadrupling since 2020 to

9.1 billion yuan last year.

($1 = 7.2111 Chinese yuan)