ASML, AMAT Among Firms That Sold Record $26 Billion Chip Equipment To China Through July

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According to government data compiled by Bloomberg, China continues to import semiconductor equipment at a record setting pace, with most orders coming from older generation machines. Due to its criticality in enabling advanced industries such as artificial intelligence and supercomputing, semiconductor equipment has become one of the most scrutinized industrial machinery in the world.

This has led to sanctions against China by the US due to American concerns of US origin technologies being used to harm American national security. These restrictions have forced China to buy older equipment in order to keep pace with its domestic demand for chip products.

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Chinese Chip Manufacturing Equipment Imports Set New Record For First Seven Months Of Calendar Year

Today's report comes a month after ASML's earnings report for the second quarter, which showed that China was its largest customer for the second consecutive quarter. During Q1 and Q2 2024, 49% of ASML's shipments were to China, which is a marked difference from the shipments during 2022 and 2023. In 2022 and 2023, 14% and 29% of the Dutch chip manufacturing equipment maker's sales were to China, despite the fact that in Q3 and Q4 2023, 46% and 39% of the shipments were to the same country.

As per the data gathered by Bloomberg, China has bought roughly $26 billion of chip manufacturing equipment through July to set a new record. The previous high was in 2021, when the Asian country had bought ~$25 billion of equipment during the same time period. Among the list of firms that sold machinery to China are ASML, US equipment manufacturer Applied Materials and Japan's Tokyo Electron. US chip sanctions on China, which have accelerated under the Biden Administration, have also