Reports that China Could Have Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography in 2026

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Chinese electronics giant Huawei is testing elements for an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine at its Dongguan facility, according to two sources posting photographs on X social media.

The sources say the equipment is scheduled for trial production of circuits in 2Q25 with full-scale manufacturing in 2026, without attributing the information to any sources of their own. They add that the equipment is based on a laser discharge induced plasma (LDP) to produce light of 13.5nm wavelength.

These reports are not confirmed. China is spending a lot of money to develop EUV lithography.

China has been denied access to the EUV lithography equipment from the monopoly commercial supplier, ASML Holding NV, for several years. This has been on the grounds that China could use advanced technology to develop AI and high-performance computing systems that would be used by the Chinese military. The export control has limited SMIC, China’s leading domestic foundry, to the manufacture of circuits at about 7nm or 5nm using deep UV immersion lithograpy with sub-optimal yield and efficiency. At the same time the world’s leading foundry, TSMC is manufacturing 3nm circuits and aiming for 2nm but is also under export license controls imposed by the US intended to prevent high-performance chips reaching China.

LDP is a lower-cost light source than the laser-produced plasma (LPP) used by ASML. The LPP is more difficult to manage but produces a higher output plasma. China is working on all of the previously researched approaches to EUV. IF China gets a less efficient version of EUV then their chips will be less competitive pricing and performance wise but they will be able to make 2nm and 3 nanometer chips. The gap will close with TSMC.

Beyond mastering EUV light itself, China will need to replicate ASML’s vast supply chain. This is about 5,000 specialized suppliers. China will spend tens of billions towards this goal.

China appears to be getting down to 3 nanometer chips even without EUV.

7 thoughts on “Reports that China Could Have Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography in 2026”

  1. The X tweet mentions using 193 nm light to etch 3nm scale chips.
    This should not be possible.
    I vaguely recall mention sometime of the scale of the chips being inaccurate.
    What is the *actual* size of the transistor gates on the chips & the wavelength of the light used to etch them with current best technology?

    • They use cleverly designed masks to achieve sub-wavelength feature sizes using calculation of interference patterns in the mono-chromatic EUV light.

  2. The X tweet mentions using 193 nm light to etch 3nm scale chips.
    This should not be possible.
    I vaguely recall mention sometime of the scale of the chips being inaccurate.
    What is the *actual* size of the transistor gates on the chips & the wavelength of the light used to etch them with current best technology?

    • Read up on octuplet patterning and pitch doubling DSA (Directed Self Assembly). You get much better yield with one step litho-etch but multiple patterning and DSA techniques are reportedly used in volume manufacturing.

  3. Blocking China didn’t work so well with Google Android, now China has an equivalent and Google loses revenue and gains a competitor. Same now with chip making. Following a known successful path is much easier and cheaper than developing something for the first time.

  4. The Chinese produce more engineers than the rest of the world put together. The really smart people working in the hard sciences in the West as well are often Chinese. It was only a matter of time before they figured it out.

  5. ASML is being trapped in a battle for tech supremacy between US and China. Either side wins, ASML is destined to fall as no one want a crucial teach depended on a single foreign company anymore. I predict ASML will be bankrupt or acquired by an US company.

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