China prepares to checkmate the US: it will have its own UVE lithography equipment to manufacture chips by 2025.

Leaks claim that Huawei is already testing China’s first UVE lithography equipment in Dongguan, China presumably hopes to begin large-scale production of this machine by 2026.

Leaks claim that unlike the EUV machines produced by the Dutch company ASML, this Chinese lithography equipment uses a LDP (laser-induced discharge) ultraviolet light source, not a LPP (laser-generated plasma) type. Presumably, the development of this ultraviolet radiation emission source is the milestone that has allowed Chinese engineers to develop a machine that many experts believed would take five years at most.

For the time being, it’s prudent to take this information with a grain of salt, but we believe it’s solid enough to echo it. An interesting note is that on paper, the LDP source is capable of generating EUV light with a wavelength of 13.5 nm, so this Chinese prototype should be able to compete head-to-head with ASML’s EUV photolithography machines. Furthermore, leaks claim that China will begin production of more machines for testing during the third quarter of this year with the goal of launching large-scale manufacturing of these devices by 2026.