logo
China's Naura rising to the chip-making equipment challenge

China's Naura rising to the chip-making equipment challenge

Asia Times17-03-2025

Naura Technology, China's top semiconductor production equipment maker, has risen to 6th place in the global ranking, according to Shanghai-based technology consulting firm CINNO Research.
Only industry giants ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron and KLA now lead Naura in terms of total sales.
The CINNO Ranking for 2024 looks like this:
ASML (Netherlands) Applied Materials (USA) Lam Research (USA) Tokyo Electron (Japan) KLA (USA) NAURA (China) Screen (Japan) Advantest (Japan) ASM International (Netherlands) Disco (Japan)
Naura has risen to prominence with the rapid growth of the Chinese semiconductor industry, which accounted for more than 40% of global demand for production equipment last year.
Sources: SEMI; 2024 company data and estimates for countries ex-China. Chart: Asia Times
In January, Naura reported preliminary high and low sales estimates for 2024 that averaged 29.7 billion yuan, or US$4.1 billion at the current exchange rate, up 36% from 2023.
Complete and finalized financial results are scheduled for release in April. Naura's sales have tripled in the past three years and are now 7.5 times higher than they were in 2019.
Source: Company data; Chart: Asia Times
CINNO ranked Naura 8th in 2023, but a more comprehensive analysis conducted by TechInsights, comparing not company-wide sales but sales of semiconductor production equipment alone, put it in 10th place.
In that year, semiconductor production equipment accounted for about 60% of Naura's total sales.
According to the numbers available so far, there was probably a similar gap in 2024, indicating that Naura ranked 8th, not 6th. Nevertheless, it is now one of the most prominent companies in the industry and outgrowing its competitors.
There is a very large gap between the first and second tiers of the industry, but it appears that Naura has the potential to catch up with KLA by the end of the decade.
Source: TechInsights; Chart: Asia Times
Naura rose to prominence during a period of fair treatment by the US government. In January 2018, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the Chinese company's acquisition of Akrion Systems, a producer of silicon wafer surface preparation equipment based in Pennsylvania.
In October 2022, the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added Naura Technology subsidiary Beijing Naura Magnetoelectric Technology to its Unverified List, but removed it in December after discussions with management.
Companies are put on the Unverified List when the BIS cannot 'verify their bona fides because an end-use check could not be completed satisfactorily' – in this case, for violations of restrictions on exports to the People's Republic of China.
However, the BIS finally added Naura to its Entity List in December 2025 – one of 140 entities 'determined by the US Government to be acting contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States' in a final mass sanctioning of technology exports to China and related destinations in Singapore, South Korea and Japan by the Biden administration.
'The Entity List,' as stated by the BIS, 'identifies entities for which there is reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable facts, that the entities have been involved, are involved, or pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.'
But Naura is not terribly worried, stating that 'Currently, 90% of the company's revenue comes from the domestic market and less than 10% in overseas markets, so this impact is expected to be small.'
Naura's product line currently includes deposition, etching, cleaning, heat treatment, UV curing and crystal growth equipment for the semiconductor, flat panel display and photovoltaic industries, lithium-ion battery manufacturing equipment, capacitors, resistors, crystal devices and power supply and microwave modules.
In addition, it reportedly plans to add photoresist coating and developing to its semiconductor equipment portfolio by acquiring a substantial stake in and eventually taking control of Kingsemi, the only Chinese maker of this equipment.
Tokyo Electron has about 90% of the market for coater/developer equipment, with Japan's Screen Holdings accounting for most of the remainder.
Naura competes with Tokyo Electron in deposition, etch and cleaning equipment, and with Screen in cleaning equipment. In deposition and etch, it is also up against Lam Research and Applied Materials, but those two companies have been hamstrung in China by a US government order preventing American companies from servicing the equipment they have sold there.
There are numerous other Chinese makers of semiconductor production equipment attempting to break into the industry supply chain. The second largest one, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC), specializes in deposition and etch.
With sales of about $1.2 billion in 2024, AMEC is likely to place between 15th and 20th in the global ranking. But with sales having risen by an estimated 45% last year, it is moving up fast.
SMIC, Hua Hong and other Chinese foundries, YMTC and other Chinese makers of memory ICs – the entire Chinese semiconductor industry is buying whatever equipment they can from Naura, AMEC and other domestic suppliers.
For about a year now, Western and Japanese companies and market research organizations have been forecasting a slowdown in Chinese equipment demand, but they have so far been wrong and are probably still.
As long as there is market share to take from imports subject to US-led sanctions, the sales of Chinese semiconductor equipment makers should continue to grow.
Follow this writer on X: @ScottFo83517667

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

China ‘respects Panama Canal neutrality' amid warning over CK Hutchison deal
China ‘respects Panama Canal neutrality' amid warning over CK Hutchison deal

South China Morning Post

time5 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

China ‘respects Panama Canal neutrality' amid warning over CK Hutchison deal

China's foreign ministry has said it respects Panama's sovereignty and recognises its canal as a neutral international waterway, after the head of the strategic channel warned that the CK Hutchison ports deal could jeopardise its impartiality. Advertisement Panama Canal Authority administrator Ricaurte Vasquez said in an interview published on Tuesday that CK Hutchison Holdings' US$23 billion deal to sell its overseas ports to a consortium led by US investment giant BlackRock and shipping firm MSC could result in a concentration of operators that would be 'inconsistent with neutrality'. He also reportedly said that a request from the US government to allow its ships to pass through the canal free of charge was not feasible under the waterway's current regulations, while suggesting the authority should become a terminal operator itself. Responding to a question about recent reports on the matter, Lin Jian, the spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Wednesday that Beijing had always firmly opposed economic coercion, domineering and bullying. 'On the navigation of relevant country's vessels, China will, as always, respect Panama's sovereignty over the canal and recognise the canal as a permanently neutral international waterway,' Lin said. Advertisement 'We support Panama's effort to uphold independence and firmly defend its lawful rights and interests as an independent sovereign country.'

Alibaba's Joe Tsai says open-sourcing its AI models will boost firm's cloud business
Alibaba's Joe Tsai says open-sourcing its AI models will boost firm's cloud business

South China Morning Post

time6 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

Alibaba's Joe Tsai says open-sourcing its AI models will boost firm's cloud business

Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai said that open-sourcing large language models (LLMs) would spur a surge in artificial intelligence (AI) applications and boost demand for cloud computing, as the company refines the focus of its sprawling business empire after 'a period of huge ordeal'. One reason Alibaba has opted to open-source its Qwen models is that it 'democratises the usage of AI' and 'proliferates applications', which would contribute to the company's cloud computing business, Tsai said at the VivaTech trade show in Paris on Wednesday. 'The way we benefit from open source is that … it will drive demand for AI, it will drive training needs, and we see in the future a lot of needs for inference,' he said. Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, has made substantial investments in AI and cloud computing alongside its main e-commerce operations, following a sweeping restructuring initiative launched two years ago to streamline its vast empire. Visitors attend the Vivatech fair, one of Europe's biggest tech industry shows. Photo: AP A vibrant consumer internet landscape in China, combined with a competitive culture among local engineers, is driving the country's AI innovation, according to Tsai.

Hong Kong's John Lee seeks closer ties in meeting with EU officials
Hong Kong's John Lee seeks closer ties in meeting with EU officials

South China Morning Post

time8 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

Hong Kong's John Lee seeks closer ties in meeting with EU officials

Hong Kong's leader has sought to deepen ties with the EU in a meeting with the bloc's representatives, saying the city will remain a free port despite growing protectionism globally. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Wednesday that he had hosted a lunch attended by Harvey Rouse, head of the Office of the European Union to Hong Kong and Macau, as well as 15 consuls general from the bloc's member countries. The gathering served as a platform for direct dialogue and an exchange of views, with a focus on exploring new avenues to enhance economic, trade and development cooperation, Lee said in a social media post. He emphasised Hong Kong's unique position as a 'superconnector' and 'super value-adder', citing its low and simple tax regime, world-class infrastructure, diverse and multicultural talent pool, and broad spectrum of professional services. These attributes made the city an 'ideal gateway between East and West', Lee said. He also extended an invitation to businesses globally, including those from Europe, to 'explore the vast array of opportunities' both in Hong Kong and mainland China. The lunch took place amid simmering US-China tensions, even as the two countries reached a deal during high-level talks in London on tariff cuts, rare earth exports, Chinese students attending US universities and a trade-war truce signed earlier in Geneva. The latest agreement is subject to final approval by the presidents of the two countries. The United States and China have been engaged in an escalating tit-for-tat tariff war in recent months, with the levy on Chinese goods at one point reaching 145 per cent.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store