It has been reported that China's SMIC is feeling limited in mass production of 7nm and below due to the lack of EUV equipment.

SMIC recently announced in a conference call with investors that it is facing difficulties in developing cutting-edge processes below 7nm due to the inability to introduce EUV equipment.

When asked by investors whether SMIC plans to develop its own EUV equipment, SMIC said it has no plans to develop its own EUV equipment and is currently in negotiations with ASML to purchase EUV equipment.

Currently, the supply of EUV equipment is difficult, and the equipment being introduced from ASML is still DUV-grade, and it was revealed that a total of 1.2 billion dollars was paid to purchase the equipment imported from ASML.

The purchase agreement with ASML was originally from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020, but was recently extended to January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021.

SMIC currently services various technologies from 0.35 microns to 14 nm, and its revenue for the second quarter of 2021 was $1.344 billion, up 21.8% quarter-on-quarter and up 43.2% year-on-year.