US Late to the Game: China Acquires Nearly $40 Billion in Chip-Making Machines Prior to Blockades

The last year has been quite complex for China due to the blockades from the U.S. and its allies. Nevertheless, as adversity sharpens one’s wit and China has a reputation for being fast and efficient, Xi Jinping and Chinese businesses outpaced the U.S. by justifying the purchase of machinery and tools for chip manufacturing, worth nearly $40 billion dollars, as investments.

Leaked data has now revealed that China managed to increase its allocations and purchases of specific machinery by 14% from all over the world in 2023. This implies that they had a hidden ace up their sleeve in case Biden decided to increase pressure on their country, which eventually happened.

China’s investments in chip-making machines and tools are almost unprecedented. The numbers don’t lie: China spent a staggering amount of money to acquire tools as soon as possible before they were banned. What’s most impressive is that, despite the large sum, which represents a 14% increase in imports for chip-making machines and tools, China’s overall imports in the semiconductor sector actually decreased by 5.5% in 2023.

This complicated landscape is likely planned by the U.S. and its allies, explaining the series of restrictions, such as on AI chips. The situation has limited the options for NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD so much that China is now turning to Huawei as a better option.

Indeed, China has been able to improve its chip manufacturing capabilities, and with the multi-billion dollar investment for their companies, they plan to double chip production capacity in just a few years. However, a question remains: where are the scanners from ASML and Tokyo Electron?

In a single month, China broke world records by spending 1000% more on lithographic scanner imports from the Netherlands and Japan. This all happened in December, right before sanctions took effect. A staggering $1.1 billion dollars were spent on DUV scanners alone, as EUV scanners have been blocked for almost a year.

These moves explain how China can catch up in mature node production by the end of the year and start competing with global rivals. By 2025, they aim to have a significant share of the global market, and by 2027, one in three mature chips worldwide will come from China.

Moreover, on the flip side, China is filing patents for chips, architectures, manufacturing technologies, and scanners at a rate that no other countries can compete with. It remains to be seen whether they can truly compete for the best lithographic processes within a decade.