Shanghai reportedly starts making domestic immersion DUV lithography tools

A state-backed firm has reportedly begun mass production of immersion DUV machines, with first deliveries due this year.

A state-backed company in Shanghai has begun mass-producing immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, according to The Information citing two people familiar with the program. First units are due this year to SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor, and ChangXin Memory Technologies. Sources linked the effort to Shanghai Yuliangsheng Technology, which was not officially named; SMIC has reportedly been testing a Yuliangsheng immersion tool since September 2025. Output targets are around five machines in 2026 and roughly 20 in 2027.

Immersion DUV prints 28nm-class features in a single exposure and can reach 7nm through multipatterning, making it the workhorse of most chip production. Most components are said to be domestic, though some critical parts still come from Japan. For scale, ASML expects to ship about 130 immersion systems in 2026 and holds the overwhelming majority of that market.

Lithography is the single tightest chokehold on who can make advanced chips, and every downstream need that runs on compute is gated by it. A credible domestic immersion tool would loosen that hold, hedging against US restrictions that designate SMIC, Hua Hong, CXMT and others as restricted entities. Cheaper, more available chipmaking capacity eventually means cheaper compute.

Heavy caveats apply. The report rests on two anonymous sources, the maker is unnamed, and local supplier delays have already held back output. Qualifying these machines for production lines could take many months, and they trail ASML on performance and build quality. Independent analysis still puts commercial-scale Chinese immersion DUV years away.

Source: Tom's Hardware