Exclusive | US-China tech war: Chinese surveillance camera maker Hikvision said to acquire second-hand ASML machine for chip production

Hikvision, which has been under a US trade blacklist since 2019, is said to be acquiring a used, ASML-built AT:850C wafer stepper system for US$5.5 million

The Chinese state-owned firm, however, has denied it has plans to make such an acquisition

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Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology controlled about a quarter of the global surveillance equipment market in 2021. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:30pm, 16 Mar 2022Updated: 9:03pm, 17 Mar 2022

Corrected [8:52pm, 17 Mar, 2022]

[8:52pm, 17 Mar, 2022]
The story has been updated with a statement from Hikvision, which denies that it has plans to acquire a second-hand ASML machine for chip production.

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, one of the world’s largest suppliers of video surveillance cameras, plans to buy a second-hand lithography machine made by Dutch firm ASML Holding for its in-house chip manufacturing operation, according to a source familiar with the matter, marking a big move for the company toward tech self-sufficiency amid US trade restrictions and a global semiconductor shortage.

Hikvision, which has been under a US trade blacklist since October 2019, is expected to spend US$5.5 million for a used AT:850C wafer stepper system, according to the source. It will form an integral part of the Chinese firm’s 8-inch wafer assembly line to make chips for its surveillance cameras, the source said.

The Chinese state-owned firm, however, has denied it was making such an acquisition, assuring that the cited information from the source is false.

“Hikvision does not have any plans to acquire an ASML machine for chip production,” a company spokesman said in an emailed statement on Thursday.

ASML Holding employees are seen working on the final assembly of the firm’s advanced Twinscan NXE:3400B semiconductor lithography machine in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, on April 4, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Built by ASML in 2005, the AT:850C is used to project the image of a circuit in photolithographic semiconductor fabrication – a process much like projecting a negative image in standard film photography. ASML has a near dominant global market position in lithography equipment, an essential system in manufacturing chips.

It was not immediately clear when Hikvision’s chip production line would become operational. Most of the chips applied in surveillance equipment can be made with mature semiconductor process nodes.

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Exclusive | US-China tech war: Chinese surveillance camera maker Hikvision said to acquire second-hand ASML machine for chip production

Hikvision, which has been under a US trade blacklist since 2019, is said to be acquiring a used, ASML-built AT:850C wafer stepper system for US$5.5 million The Chinese state-owned firm, however, has denied it has plans to make such an acquisition

Hikvision, which has been under a US trade blacklist since 2019, is said to be acquiring a used, ASML-built AT:850C wafer stepper system for US$5.5 million

The Chinese state-owned firm, however, has denied it has plans to make such an acquisition