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Minxiao Chang

One of China’s leading semiconductor equipment makers is capable of producing some of the world’s most advanced chipmaking tools, according to an interview with the company’s chairman which aired on Sunday.
Gerald Yin Zhiyao of Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (Amec), who is also the company’s founder, told state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) its plasma-etching technology had become an industry standard and been adopted by major international rivals.
The company’s etching systems currently cover node processes ranging from mature 65-nanometre chips to advanced 5nm and 3nm nodes, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, uses some products in its supply chain, he said.
Efforts by home-grown giants like Amec to advance their technology underscore China’s push towards semiconductor self-reliance. As tightening US restrictions threaten to cut Chinese tech firms from Western and Japanese supply chains, domestic chipmakers are swapping out foreign tools for local alternatives.
Founded in 2004, Amec has emerged as a key pillar in China’s semiconductor equipment sector. The company has developed domestic alternatives for 17 categories of manufacturing equipment previously dominated by foreign suppliers.
Its metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) business – which makes high-precision printers that use chemical gases to bake thin layers of crystals onto semiconductor wafers – has gained significant global market share in recent years, according to public disclosures by the company.
China’s leading foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), had bought at least 800 machines from Amec, said SMIC founder Zhang Rujing during the same CCTV interview.


The domestic push coincides with a boom in the international market. Global semiconductor equipment sales rose 15 per cent to a record US$135.1 billion in 2025, a second consecutive annual high, according to data published in April from industry association Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).
Mainland China remained the world’s largest semiconductor equipment market, with spending reaching US$49.3 billion and accounting for more than 36 per cent of global demand, the data showed.
Driven by AI servers, high-performance computing and memory chip expansion, semiconductor manufacturing capacity has continued to shift towards Asia, creating growth opportunities for Chinese semiconductor equipment makers despite tightening US restrictions on the technology, the SEMI report said.
Capitalising on the momentum, Amec last month reported a 197.2 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit for the first quarter, and recently raised its full-year order growth forecast to 50 per cent. Revenue from its MOCVD equipment business surged more than 224 per cent last year, according to company filings.
Behind Amec’s surge is Yin, who is often referred to in Chinese media as the “father of China’s etching machines”. Yin founded Amec after working in the US semiconductor industry for more than two decades, including stints at Intel and Applied Materials.
Yin said the company’s goal had always been true independence, rather than imitation of existing technology.
“During my 20 years in the US, everything I invented came from my own ideas,” Yin said in the interview. “If we could innovate then, we can innovate even better now. We never wanted to simply replicate foreign technology – innovation has always been essential.”
Despite rapid growth, Chinese equipment makers still lag behind US, Japanese and Dutch rivals in some high-end lithography and process technologies.


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The head of one of China’s leading semiconductor makers said its technology has been adopted by overseas competitors


The head of one of China’s leading semiconductor makers said its technology has been adopted by overseas competitors.


China’s Amec setting industry standard for chipmaking tech, founder says

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The head of one of China’s leading semiconductor makers said its technology has been adopted by overseas competitors

The head of one of China’s leading semiconductor makers said its technology has been adopted by overseas competitors