SMIC trials homegrown lithography kit

Chinese chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, is running trials on the country's first domestically produced advanced chip-making equipment in an effort to challenge western rivals in producing artificial intelligence processors, the Financial Times reported.

The report quoted two anonymous sources as saying that SMIC is testing a deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machine made by Yuliangsheng, a Shanghai-based start-up.

The ability to produce advanced DUV machines would represent a huge leap in China's efforts to strengthen its domestic chip-making industry. Due to the US government's control on chip exports, Chinese companies cannot access the most advanced lithographic machines made by the Dutch company ASML.

SMIC was testing a Chinese-made 28 nanometers DUV lithography machine and utilizing so-called multi-patterning techniques to produce 7 nm chips, two people with knowledge of the development said, according to the Financial Times.

SMIC did not respond to requests for comment. Yuliangsheng was not immediately available for comment.