Report on the Development Status of China’s Semiconductor Supporting Industries (2019)

This report is divided into two parts: Materials and Equipment. It analyzes the current industrial situation and development trends both domestically and internationally, as well as investment in R&D and industrial development, patent status, workforce conditions, and existing challenges within the industry. The report was completed in August 2019.

Table of Contents

Part One: Semiconductor Manufacturing Materials 1
I. Current Status and Development Trends of the International Semiconductor Manufacturing Materials Industry 1
II. Development Trends in the Chinese Semiconductor Manufacturing Materials Market 3
III. Overview of China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Materials Industry 5
(1) General Situation 5
1. Industry sales revenue 5
2. Industry R&D investment 8
3. Application for an invention patent: 9
4. Industry professionals 12
(2) Silicon Materials Industry 14
(3) Photoresist Industry 17
(4) The Process Chemicals Industry 21
(5) Electronic Gas Industry 23
(6) CMP Polishing Materials Industry 25
(7) Sputtering Target Industry 27
IV. Issues and Reflections on China’s Semiconductor Materials Industry 29
(1) The technological level of the industry still has room for improvement. 29
(2) The issue of severe product homogeneity in business operations is serious—30
(3) The supply chain is incomplete, and there are bottlenecks in industrial development. 30
(4) Insufficient accumulation of industrial innovation factors 31
(5) The situation of difficulties in promoting the product in the domestic market still needs further improvement. 31
(6) There is a lack of a platform for developing and validating material application processes that support the technological innovation and industrialization of industries. 32
(7) Lack of sound industry standards and legal regulations 32
Part II: Semiconductor-Specific Equipment 34
I. Overview of the Global Semiconductor Special Equipment Development and Analysis of Industry Market Demand 36
(1) Global Semiconductor Equipment Development Status in 2018 36
(II) Analysis of the Global Semiconductor Equipment Market Demand in 2019 41
II. Development Status of China’s Semiconductor Special Equipment Industry 42
(1) Industry Scale 42
(II) Industrial Structure 43
(3) Technical Level 46
(4) Science and Technology Investment 49
(5) Intellectual Property 50
(6) Industry Talent 51
III. Issues and Reflections on China’s Semiconductor Equipment Industry 52
(1) The coverage rate of domestically produced equipment manufacturing processes is increasing slowly, and enterprises are facing fierce competition from international giants, making it difficult to achieve large-scale commercialization of their products. 52
(2) The intensity of R&D investment is severely insufficient, making it difficult to support China’s integrated circuit industry in catching up with the world’s advanced technological levels. 53
(3) There is a lack of a validation platform for next-generation process development, and equipment development lags behind the demands of the processes. 54
(4) The overall size of the talent team is insufficient, and the talent incentive mechanism remains to be improved. 54
(5) The capacity for local component and parts supply still needs to be improved. 55

Figure 1: Trend in Sales of China’s Integrated Circuit Industry 3
Figure 2: Market Share of Domestic Wafer Manufacturing Materials in 2018 4
Figure 3: Development Trend of Sales Revenue for Companies in the Materials Industry (Excluding Packaging Materials) 5
Figure 4: Composition of Sales Revenue in the Materials Industry (Excluding Packaging Materials) in 2018 6
Figure 5: Composition of Sales Revenue from Products Used in Semiconductor Manufacturing in the Wafer Fabrication Materials Industry in 2018 7
Figure 6: Development Trend of Sales Revenue in the Special Packaging Materials Industry 8
Figure 7: R&D Investment in Various Specialized Fields of the Materials Industry 9
Figure 8: Patent Applications and Grants in the Materials Industry 10
Figure 9: Patent Application Status in Various Specialized Fields of the Materials Industry 11
Figure 10: Patent Grant Status in Various Specialized Fields of the Materials Industry 12
Figure 11: Total number of employees in various specialized fields of the materials industry in 2018 13
Figure 12: Staff Composition in the Materials Industry in 2018 (by Job Nature) 13
Figure 13: Staff Composition in the Materials Industry in 2018 (by Education Level) 14
Figure 14: Current Status and Development Forecast of the Global Silicon Wafer Market by Diameter 15
Figure 15: Sales Revenue of Companies in the Silicon Materials Industry 16
Figure 16: Domestic Silicon Material Industry Capacity Status 17
Figure 17: Global Photoresist Market Structure in 2018 18
Figure 18: Growth in Sales Revenue of Photolithography Industry Enterprises, 2020
Figure 19: Composition of China’s Annual Photolithography Resin Production Capacity in 2018 20
Figure 20: Growth in Sales Revenue of Companies in the Process Chemicals Industry 22
Figure 21: Growth in Sales Revenue of Companies in the Electronic Gases Industry 24
Figure 22: Growth in Sales Revenue of Companies in the Polishing Materials Industry 27
Figure 23: Growth in Sales Revenue of Companies in the Sputtering Target Industry 28
Figure 24: Annual Production Capacity of the Target Materials Industry in 2018 29
Figure 25: Global Semiconductor Equipment Market 36
Figure 26: China Semiconductor Equipment Market (SEMI) 38
Figure 27: Global Semiconductor Equipment Market Size (SEMI) 42
Figure 28: Detailed Sales of Domestic Semiconductor Equipment (ICMtia) from 2015 to 2019 (E) 43
Figure 29: Composition of Semiconductor Equipment Sales Revenue for Representative Companies in 2017 45
Figure 30: Composition of Semiconductor Equipment Sales Revenue for Representative Companies in 2018 45
Figure 30: R&D Investment in China’s Semiconductor Equipment Industry (ICMtia) 49
Figure 31: Patent Applications/Authorizations in China’s Semiconductor Equipment Industry 50
Figure 32: Staff Composition of Semiconductor Special Equipment Enterprises 51
Table 1: Current Status and Forecast of the Global Wafer Manufacturing Materials Market (in billions of U.S. dollars, SEMI Q1 2019) 2
Table 2: Current Status and Forecast of the Global Semiconductor Packaging Materials Market (in billions of U.S. dollars, SEMI 2019 Q1) 2
Table 3: Forecast of China’s Market Demand for Wafer Manufacturing Materials (in RMB 100 million) 3
Table 4: Market Demand Forecast for Semiconductor Packaging Materials in China (in RMB 100 million) 4
Table 5: Sales Revenue of Enterprises in Various Specialized Fields of the Materials Industry (Excluding Packaging Materials) (in RMB 100 million) 6
Table 6: Sales Revenue of Products Used in Semiconductor Manufacturing by the Wafer Fabrication Materials Industry (in RMB 100 million) 7
Table 7: R&D Investment in Various Specialized Fields of the Materials Industry (in 100 million yuan, ICMtia) 8
Table 8: Patent Application Status by Specialization in the Materials Industry (Number of Applications, ICMtia) 10
Table 9: Patent Grant Status by Specialization in the Materials Industry (Number of Patents, ICMtia) 11
Table 10: Domestic Electronic Gas Industry Capacity Status in 2018 (ICMtia) 25
Table 11: Comprehensive Statistical Data on 22 Representative Semiconductor Special Equipment Enterprises in China 34
Table 12: Global Semiconductor Industry Equipment Investment Expenditure 37
Table 13: Regional Distribution of Global Semiconductor Equipment Sales (in billions of U.S. dollars, SEMI) 39
Table 14: Top 10 Global Wafer Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers in 2018 (Gartner) 39
Table 15: Top 10 Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers in Mainland China, 2018 (in 100 million yuan, CEPEA) 41
Table 16: 2018 (12th) China Semiconductor Equipment Innovative Products 48