Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (Amec), one of China's foremost semiconductor equipment makers, has reached a technological milestone: its plasma-etching systems have become an industry standard and are now used by major international rivals, according to the company's founder and chairman. The disclosure, made during a Sunday broadcast on state television, signals how far domestic Chinese chipmaking tools have advanced amid intensifying geopolitical pressure on supply chains.

Plasma-etching leadership

Gerald Yin Zhiyao, founder and chairman of Amec, told China Central Television (CCTV) that the company's plasma-etching technology had been adopted by major international competitors — a claim that, if borne out, would mark a significant reversal from the era when Chinese fabs relied almost entirely on foreign equipment. Amec's etching systems currently span node processes from mature 65-nanometre chips all the way down to advanced 5nm and 3nm nodes, he said.

Notably, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, uses some of Amec's products within its supply chain, according to Yin Zhiyao. That adoption by the industry's most demanding customer adds credibility to Amec's claims of technical parity with Western and Japanese incumbents.

Scale of domestic adoption

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China's leading foundry, has purchased at least 800 machines from Amec, SMIC founder Zhang Rujing said during the same CCTV interview. That volume underscores how deeply Amec's equipment has penetrated the domestic supply chain, providing a large and captive customer base that funds continued R&D.

Founded in 2004, Amec has developed domestic alternatives across 17 categories of semiconductor manufacturing equipment that were previously dominated by foreign suppliers. The company's metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) business — which produces high-precision tools that use chemical gases to deposit thin crystalline layers onto semiconductor wafers — has also gained significant global market share in recent years, according to the company's public disclosures.

Why it matters

Amec's progress is emblematic of China's broader push for semiconductor self-reliance as tightening US export restrictions threaten to sever Chinese technology firms from Western and Japanese equipment supply chains. Domestic chipmakers are actively replacing foreign tools with local alternatives, and Amec is among the handful of companies capable of supplying advanced-node equipment. The company's ability to serve both leading domestic fabs and, reportedly, global giants like TSMC suggests its technology has crossed a competitive threshold that few observers expected this soon.

Competitive backdrop

Global semiconductor equipment is dominated by a small group of Western and Japanese firms. Amec's advance into plasma-etching — a process critical to defining circuit patterns at sub-10nm nodes — puts it in direct competition with established players in a market where switching costs are high and qualification cycles are long. The company's reported adoption by international rivals as a standard-setter, rather than merely a cost-competitive alternative, represents a qualitative shift in its market position.

What's next

With US restrictions widely expected to tighten further, the pace at which companies like Amec can qualify their tools at leading-edge nodes will determine how quickly China's chip industry can insulate itself from external supply disruptions. Investors and industry analysts will be watching whether Amec can extend its etching leadership to other critical process steps — deposition, lithography support, and metrology — where foreign dominance remains largely intact.