China’s new chip tool champion SiCarrier offers self-reliance hope amid US restrictions

The equipment start-up kept a low profile until this week, when it unveiled about 30 new products at the Semicon China show

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SiCarrier’s booth at Semicon China 2025 was crowded with visitors. Photo: Ann Cao

Published: 7:00am, 30 Mar 2025

SiCarrier, a three-year-old chip equipment manufacturer backed by the Shenzhen government, debuted an array of new products this week, touting them as “100 per cent domestically controllable”, in a further sign of progress in China’s efforts to achieve semiconductor self sufficiency amid escalating US restrictions.

“For semiconductor equipment, SiCarrier has established comprehensive capabilities spanning system architecture, hardware, components, and algorithms,” Du Lijun, president of SiCarrier’s process equipment product line, said in a keynote speech at the Semicon China trade show on Thursday.

Du said that in response to the current ban on advanced lithography systems being exported to China, SiCarrier is focusing on alternative materials, non-optical correction, and 3D architecture solutions. SiCarrier’s products for diffusion, etching and thin film already support mass production, and are ready for applications in advanced logic chips and memory, he added.

Visitors walk past the SiCarrier booth during Semicon China, a trade fair for the semiconductor industry, in Shanghai, March 26, 2025. Photo: Reuters

“Since its inception, SiCarrier has targeted the high-end equipment needs of domestic semiconductor manufacturers,” Li Zhoujian, president of SiCarrier’s metrology and inspection product line, was quoted as saying by a local semiconductor-focused media outlet on Tuesday.

Li is a veteran of Huawei Technologies and a current member of its Representatives’ Commission, a body that works on behalf of shareholding employees. He said SiCarrier’s metrology and inspection tools have achieved full localisation of core components, marking a key advancement in an area previously dominated by foreign companies, and in a field in which local firms had limited development experience.

SiCarrier has been a hot topic of discussion in China’s semiconductor industry for its alleged close ties with Huawei, although neither company has responded to the speculation. The equipment start-up kept a low profile until this week, when it rolled out about 30 new products at Semicon China 2025. Named after famous mountains, the product line-up includes machines for diffusion, etching, thin film deposition, optical inspection, optical metrology, and power inspection, according to a sales brochure distributed at the show by SiCarrier.

“The company has established an end-to-end R&D framework covering fundamental material processes, core components, and complete equipment,” the brochure read.