SiCarrier, a chip tool maker backed by the Shenzhen government and connected to Huawei Technologies, will launch new products this week during the three-day Semicon China exhibition, an annual industry event hosted by the U.S.-based industry association SEMI. SiCarrier came under the spotlight in 2023 after it was granted a patent for a process that produced 5-nanometer node chips using existing deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) tools. The breakthrough was seen as the underlying technology used by Huawei to produce a 7-nm chip for its Mate 60 Pro smartphone in 2024, although neither company has ever publicly commented on the matter.
Established in 2021, SiCarrier emerged around the time that Huawei Technologies became subject to tighter U.S. tech sanctions. The start-up has maintained a low profile. Its website lists just four low-tech chip tools under the title of “semiconductor manufacturing” products, while the page for “news information” is blank. The company website offers no information about the company’s ownership or senior executives, although it has a “compliance statement” that pledges to respect third-party intellectual property rights.
SiCarrier’s official social media account on WeChat published a brief agenda for its participation at Semicon China, which runs from March 26 to 28. The post explained that SiCarrier, as “a core semiconductor equipment supplier”, has always committed to development and manufacturing of “advanced semiconductor equipment” to help enable China’s chip industry. SiCarrier said it will display several key products used in semiconductor wafer fabrication, with each one using a code name from a famous mountain. They include the Emei epitaxial products, Wuyi etching systems, Changbai chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment, Putuoshan physical vapor deposition (PVD) gear, and atomic layer deposition tools named after the Alishan mountain range in Taiwan.
The announcement immediately caught the attention of Chinese chip equipment insiders as it was the first time that SiCarrier has come out from the shadows, joining other Chinese domestic chip tool companies like Naura Technology Group and Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment, which are also making steady progress in self-sufficiency. It is unknown whether SiCarrier’s showcased products will demonstrate any key breakthroughs, but in an effort to woo new customers the company has come up with a slogan that literally translates as “in the world of chips, there’s a new choice, and that’s SiCarrier”.
The 2025 edition of Semicon China, which has been a key forum for China’s chip equipment and materials industry since the early 1990s, is happening at a time when China is facing tightened U.S. restrictions on its access to advanced chips and tools due Washington’s concerns that U.S. core tech could be used to modernize the Chinese military, the South China Morning Post reports.
