As the cornerstone of chip manufacturing, the localization process of semiconductor equipment is directly related to the independent and controllable of China's integrated circuit industry. At the recent SEMICON China 2025 (March 26-28, 2025 in Shanghai), Shenzhen SiCarrier Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SiCarrier") with breakthroughs in the field of key equipment such as etching and thin film deposition, it is gradually rewriting the competitive pattern of the domestic semiconductor equipment market, so it is also rapidly out of the circle. So, who is the light of this new domestic semiconductor equipment? In this article, China Exportsemi will objectively analyze the growth path and development potential of this emerging enterprise from multiple dimensions such as technology traceability, industrial chain collaboration, technological breakthroughs, and industry influence.
ⅠTechnology traceability: the starting point of SiCarrier's R&D genes and localization
1. The technical accumulation of the core team
Founded in 2021, SiCarrier is a very young company, but its technology accumulation should not be underestimated, which is closely related to the background of its R&D team. Rumors say that most of its core team are from Huawei's 2012 lab, but there is no official source to corroborate this. The company's core team has more than 20 years of experience in electronic equipment technology development, and has united many domestic semiconductor manufacturing equipment and parts partners to provide advanced solutions for domestic semiconductor equipment factories, wafer factories, electronic and electrical equipment factories, and research institutions. Related products are widely used in domestic top manufacturing enterprises and research and testing institutions.
2. Technical positioning of localized equipment
At SEMICON China 2025, SiCarrier exhibited a number of products named after China's famous mountains, including epitaxial deposition equipment EPI "Emei mountain", etching equipment ETCH "Wuyi mountain", and chemical vapor deposition equipment CVD" Changbai mountain", physical vapor deposition equipment PVD "Putuo mountain", atomic layer deposition equipment ALD "Ali mountain". and other 31 types of equipment, covering almost the entire process of semiconductor manufacturing. These devices cover a number of key links in the semiconductor manufacturing process, reflecting the breadth and depth of SiCarrier's technology research and development.
Figure: SiCarrier is hot in SEMICON China 2025
1. A natural national team player
The birth and rise of SiCarrier is inseparable from its profound state-owned assets and strategic layout. As a high-tech enterprise wholly owned by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, SiCarrier has been given the mission of "national team" since its establishment, aiming to break through the "bottleneck" problem in the field of semiconductor equipment. Its parent company, Shenzhen Major Industrial Investment Group (holding 100% of the shares), is directly subordinate to the Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, with a registered capital of up to 1.5 billion yuan, and has built a closed-loop ecology of "capital + technology + industrial chain" through related parties such as the second phase of the National Fund and SMIC. Chairman Dai Jun is also a supervisor of the second phase of the National Fund and a director of SMIC, and the senior management team also includes many members from core enterprises in the semiconductor industry chain, which strengthens the ability of technology and industry synergy.
From the perspective of policy support, the strong endorsement of Shenzhen state-owned assets provides multiple guarantees for SiCarrier in terms of capital, resources and market access. For example, the first phase of Shenzhen's 50 billion yuan industrial fund has been directly injected into SiCarrier's R&D system, supporting it to establish R&D centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and other places, and accelerating overseas technology mergers and acquisitions.
The state-owned background also gives SiCarrier a unique strategic depth. It has built a complete ecology from R&D to mass production, making it the core fulcrum of the national semiconductor autonomy strategy. (Also mentioned below).
This "national team" positioning is not only a powerful tool to deal with the external technology blockade, but also a hub for internal integration of resources, marking a key shift in China's semiconductor industry from passive defense to active breakthrough.
Ⅱ Industrial chain synergy: the key leap from laboratory to mass production
1. Validation cooperation with leading fabs
The equipment of SiCarrier has entered the domestic wafer manufacturing plant for application. At SEMICON China 2025, SiCarrier exhibited a variety of product models, attracting a large number of visitors to watch and consult.
2. Industry-university-research cooperation model
SiCarrier adheres to the concept of "professionalism, innovation and openness", based on technology, gathers the strength of all people, overcomes difficulties, and ensures the safety of the supply chain of the domestic semiconductor and electronic manufacturing industry. It is understood that SiCarrier has established cooperation with a number of top universities.
Ⅲ Technological breakthroughs and challenges: the realistic path of domestic equipment
1. The formation of a multi-category product matrix
At SEMICON China 2025, SiCarrier showcased a matrix of process equipment and quantity testing equipment covering multiple core processes of semiconductor manufacturing, including etching equipment, thin film deposition equipment, epitaxial growth equipment, rapid heat treatment equipment, etc. These devices meet the needs of logic, DRAM, and NAND product manufacturing, and support the evolution of PlanarFET and FinFET to GAAFET processes.
Figure: Panorama of the process equipment of the SiCarrier
2. Opportunities and risks of global layout
While making breakthroughs in the domestic market, SiCarrier is also facing challenges in the international market. The moat of international giants in the field of semiconductor equipment lies not only in technology, but also in ecology. For example, Applied Materials' PVD equipment has formed a complete set of "equipment-process-material" solutions, and has established decades of cooperative relations with leading wafer fabs such as TSMC and Samsung. If SiCarrier wants to break this ecological barrier, it needs to undergo long-term tests in equipment stability, mass production consistency, after-sales service and other links.
Ⅳ The impact of the industry: the role of domestic equipment manufacturers reshaped
1. potential changes to the international competitive landscape
The rise of SiCarrier marks a substantial step forward for Chinese companies in the field of high barriers to semiconductor equipment. The "Famous Mountain" series of equipment launched by it directly benchmarks the international top level and shows the confidence in technical tackling.
2. Empowerment of the downstream chip industry
The application of SiCarrier's equipment in domestic wafer manufacturing factories will help increase the proportion of domestic equipment in the downstream chip industry chain and enhance the independent and controllable ability of the industrial chain.
Conclusion: The rational breakthrough of domestic semiconductor equipment
The development of semiconductor equipment does not happen overnight. SiCarrier has formed a product matrix to meet the manufacturing needs of logic, DRAM, and NAND products, and supports the evolution of PlanarFET and FinFET to GAAFET process. However, the key is to truly let customers use and improve production yields, and effectively solve problems. Therefore, there is still some way to go in the future. The development process of SiCarrier reflects the advancement of China's semiconductor equipment industry. In etching, thin film deposition and other links, it has achieved a leap from "usable" to "easy to use", but there is still a technical gap of 1-2 generations with the international leading level. In the future, it may be more advisable to adopt a pragmatic strategy of "open cooperation + focus on market segments" - it may be a more sustainable development path to deepen the reliability improvement in the field of mature processes, and to make breakthroughs in subdivisions such as ion implantation and measurement at advanced nodes.
