SMEE Says >90% of Key Parts in New Scanners Are Domestic

By Rebecca Stone

More than 90% of the key components in SMEE’s newest KrF and i-line scanners are now made in China, the company says; Chinese reports have not independently verified the localization claim. Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Co. describes itself as China’s only maker able to deliver front-end dry lithography tools in volume.

At the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, which runs Nov. 5-10, SMEE displayed models of the SSC800 and SSB800 in the China pavilion. The company calls both next-generation front-end dry scanning projection lithography tools. DigiTimes reported that the showcase also covered lithography tools for advanced packaging.

Which parts does the company control?

The SSC800 uses a KrF light source, while the SSB800 uses i-line. SMEE says the high-precision projection lens and illumination system, dual wafer and mask stages, wafer-handling system, and alignment and leveling sensors are all “self-controlled.” Both platforms are in “volume production,” the company says.

The better-than-90% figure does not come with a public component breakdown. Chinese reports did not say which components the total counts or whether the calculation uses part count or value, leaving SMEE’s localization metric incomplete.

What operating record does SMEE claim?

Several SMEE tools run in leading domestic logic and memory production lines, the company says, and have processed more than 10 million wafers in total. SMEE puts effective uptime above 92%; Chinese reports provide no independent confirmation of that figure or the wafer total.

It also says the scanners’ imaging matches comparable international products, while overlay accuracy and throughput are closing in on international benchmarks. SMEE gave no unit count, customer names, resolution, or throughput figures, leaving those comparisons unquantified and unverified.

Chinese reports on the showcase did not mention an SMEE immersion or EUV system.

Where do KrF and i-line fit?

KrF and i-line scanners pattern the less critical layers of chips and are used widely for mature-node production. That puts the SSC800 and SSB800 below the leading edge, where the source says China’s lithography limits are concentrated.

Because the better-than-90% claim applies to these two dry platforms, it does not establish domestic capability in EUV or immersion lithography. The announcement addresses mature-node tool supply, not the leading-edge gap.

How do export controls change the context?

ASML’s EUV systems and its NXT:2000i and newer immersion DUV scanners already required a Dutch export licence. In September 2024, the Netherlands extended licensing to the older NXT:1970i and 1980i immersion tools.

Chinese reports on the showcase did not mention an immersion or EUV system from SMEE, so the announcement does not address the tool classes covered by those controls. The localization claim therefore does not close the gap between dry scanning tools and export-controlled lithography systems.

Can localization become real procurement share?

The announcement adds to a broader push to replace foreign tools in Chinese fabs. Memory maker YMTC is aiming for up to 70% Chinese-made equipment at its fourth NAND fab, as MLQ reported in the previous week. The 70% figure is an aim, not a reported installed share.

SMEE’s component-localization claim fits that procurement direction, but the company has disclosed no unit count or customer names. It also has provided no independent verification for the 10 million-wafer total, 92% uptime, imaging, overlay, or throughput claims.

That leaves SMEE’s case dependent on claims that buyers cannot yet compare with named international deployments. The tools’ maturity and domestic component share matter, but disclosed evidence stops short of showing shipment scale or customer-level performance.

The next test is whether SMEE can disclose scanner shipments and customer deployments as Chinese fabs pursue domestic-equipment targets; until then, its mature-node localization remains unverified, and the showcase established no immersion or EUV capability.