Huawei is acting as a project manager for China's deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography development, coordinating a network of suppliers, fabrication plants, and equipment manufacturers to reduce dependence on foreign tools.
Shanghai Yuliangsheng is leading the production effort, aiming to manufacture 12 advanced DUV units by the end of 2026. These machines are currently being tested at Huawei's facilities and at the sites of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's largest contract chipmaker.
To address supply chain gaps, Huawei has invested in Qiqi Photon and Keyihongyuan, companies focusing on high-power light sources and projection lenses. Despite these efforts, DUV systems still rely on lenses from the German company Zeiss.
The initiative is driven by US export restrictions on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools from ASML, which have limited SMIC to 7nm-class processes. Huawei also aims to scale production of its Ascend 910C AI chips, targeting approximately 600,000 units by 2026.
Additionally, Huawei is implementing a technique called LogicFolding to increase chip density without needing the most advanced lithography nodes.
