03 Semiconductor Manufacturing & Materials Layer
1. Value Chain Positioning & Value Distribution
The semiconductor manufacturing and materials layer is the physical starting point of the entire AI hardware foundation, and the most fiercely contested "blockade line" in the global technology cold war.
In the "smiling curve," this layer exhibits an extreme long-tail distribution. Oligarchs represented by TSMC (foundry) and ASML (lithography) hold formidable technical moats and enjoy exceptionally high profit shares; meanwhile, upstream segments such as silicon wafers, photoresists, and electronic specialty gases—despite their smaller scale—can generate "leveraging" supply disruption threats that ripple across the entire industry.
2. Core Tracks & Technical Moats
- Advanced Process Foundry: Processes of 3nm and below have become an exclusive game for a very small number of players (primarily TSMC), with R&D costs reaching tens of billions of dollars. This is the core determinant of how many transistors a single AI chip can accommodate.
- Semiconductor Equipment: ASML's EUV lithography systems are the undisputed crown jewel. However, segments such as etch tools (Lam Research, AMEC) and thin-film deposition (Applied Materials, Piotech) also possess extremely high technical barriers.
- Advanced Packaging: As Moore's law slows, using 2.5D/3D packaging technologies like CoWoS (TSMC) to "stitch" multiple chips together (Chiplet) has become the most effective—and currently the most capacity-constrained—approach to boosting AI compute power.
3. The "Darkest Hour & Breakthrough" of Domestic Substitution
Due to the U.S. Entity List restrictions, China faces a dead end in acquiring advanced-node equipment below 14nm and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems. The current domestic breakthrough strategy is twofold:
- Mobilize national resources to support equipment and materials makers (such as AMEC, NAURA, SMEE), achieving self-sufficiency and controllability in mature nodes first.
- Bet on "advanced packaging" —attempting to combine chips manufactured on mature nodes via sophisticated packaging technology to deliver compute performance approaching that of advanced nodes, thereby circumventing the bottleneck through indirect means.
4. Benchmark Companies in This Layer
Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.
4186:TYO (Tokyo Stock Exchange) | JapanCore Business: A globally leading supplier of photoresists and supporting high-purity chemicals, focusing on high-end ArF/EUV photoresists.
⚔️ Moat: Holds a 25% global share in ArF/EUV photoresists, with extremely high technological and customer barriers; a core supplier to TSMC/Samsung/Intel.
Key Competitors: JSR, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Fujifilm, DowDuPont
Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc.
688012:SH | ChinaCore Business: Provides plasma etching equipment and thin film deposition equipment, delivering core process equipment for AI chip manufacturing
⚔️ Moat: Internationally leading plasma etching technology (especially capacitively coupled dielectric etching), has entered TSMC's 5nm and below advanced process supply chain, with extremely high customer certification barriers
Key Competitors: Lam Research, Applied Materials, TEL
AMEC
688012:SH | ChinaCore Business: R&D, manufacturing, and sales of high-end semiconductor plasma etching equipment and MOCVD equipment
⚔️ Moat: Achieved domestic technological breakthroughs in plasma etching and MOCVD, with product performance reaching internationally advanced levels, deeply bound to the world's major wafer fabs
Key Competitors: Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron
NAURA
002371:Shenzhen Stock Exchange | ChinaCore Business: China's largest semiconductor equipment platform, providing core process equipment such as etching, thin film deposition, and cleaning
⚔️ Moat: China's only comprehensive equipment platform covering major process segments including etching, thin film, cleaning, and heat treatment, with strong customer stickiness and significant first-mover advantage in domestic substitution
Key Competitors: AMEC, AMAT, Lam, ACM Research
Nata Opto-electronic
300346:SZ | ChinaCore Business: One of the few comprehensive semiconductor material companies in China with concurrent deployments in ArF photoresist, ALD/CVD precursors, and electronic specialty gases.
⚔️ Moat: ArF photoresist has passed verification with some customers, making the company the most significant competitor in high-end photoresist in China aside from Red Avenue New Materials. Meanwhile, the company also possesses important domestic substitution capabilities in precursors and electronic specialty gases.
Key Competitors:
Applied Materials
AMAT:US | United StatesCore Business: Provides critical equipment and software for global semiconductor chip manufacturing, covering core processes such as deposition, etching, and ion implantation.
⚔️ Moat: Has decades of technical expertise and patent barriers in thin-film deposition and etching, with deep collaboration with major global wafer fabs, resulting in extremely high customer switching costs.
Key Competitors: LAM Research, TEL
Applied Materials, Inc.
AMAT:US | United StatesCore Business: Provides key process equipment for semiconductor chip manufacturing, including deposition, etching, and ion implantation
⚔️ Moat: Possesses the most comprehensive semiconductor equipment product portfolio, covering key processes such as etching, deposition, ion implantation, and thermal processing, with extremely high customer stickiness
Key Competitors: Lam Research (LRCX), Tokyo Electron (TEL), KLA (KLA)
ACM Research (Shanghai), Inc.
688082:SH | ChinaCore Business: Provides advanced cleaning equipment and supporting technical solutions for wafer manufacturing
⚔️ Moat: Possesses globally leading megasonic cleaning technologies such as SAPS/TEBO, forming a differentiated moat in single-wafer cleaning
Key Competitors: SCREEN, TEL, Lam Research, NAURA
Topoint Technology Co., Ltd.
8021:TWO | TaiwanCore Business: Globally leading manufacturer of tungsten-cobalt alloy micro drill bits and PCB routers, specializing in micro-hole drilling for AI servers and advanced packaging substrates
⚔️ Moat: 30 years of accumulated micro-drill geometric design and tungsten-cobalt alloy formulation expertise, aspect ratio exceeding 40:1, tool life 30% longer than competitors, and ties with the top 10 global substrate manufacturers
Key Competitors: Kinkelder, Union Tool, HITACHI Tool
ASML
ASML:US | NetherlandsCore Business: The only company in the world that can mass-produce EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography machines, and a one-stop supplier of the most critical equipment in semiconductor manufacturing.
⚔️ Moat: A global monopoly in EUV lithography machines, with no competitor able to produce a mass-producible EUV system. Decades of precision optical and mechanical engineering, complex system integration capabilities, and deep ties with top-tier supply chains such as Zeiss form a technological moat that cannot be replicated in the short term.
Key Competitors: