The 7.3-magnitude quake happen in Fukushima, Japan this Feb has seriously impacted the production facility of Shin-Etsu Chemical, whose photoresist accounted for 13% share of whole industry. Till now the production facility is not completed recovered, lead to KrF photoresist supply shortage. Many China mainland wafer plants were affected, some small and middle-sized plants even run out of inventory.

According to GRD Survey database, global photoresist suppliers are mainly in Japan, US and Europe. China local suppliers are in the low-end PCB photoresist product lines, with market share over 50%. In high-end semiconductor photoresist area, China local supplier take less than 5% market share. Since the Sino-US trade war started in 2018, more and more local players joined in semiconductor photoresist market.

Latest Local Players R&D Status:

1. Beijing Kempur Microelectronics’ KfF photoresist is in mass production, with ArF and ArFi photoresist in R&D stage.

2. Jingrui’s KfF protoresist is in R&D stage. Its newly purchased Photoetching equipment is in testing and its KfF protoresist will be used for 90-28 nm chip lines. Shanghai Sinyang is almost in the same progress as Jingrui.

3. Nata’s photoresist program has completed the 25 t/y production line and major photoetching equipment put into production. At the end of 2020, Nata photoresist has successfully confirmed the order of local buyers. It’s ArF photoresist is in commercial quality and now sales in small batch.

For more in-depth data and analysis, read Global Photoresist Market Status and Forecast 2021-2027.