AIBRIEF
ASML shares fell about 8% Monday after Reuters named Shanghai Aishengna as a state backed maker of immersion DUV tools, the older 193nm chip printing machines where competition is most plausible.
ASML shares fell roughly 8% on Monday, 2026-07-27, after Reuters confirmed a state-backed Shanghai firm, Aishengna Electronic Technology Group, has begun producing homegrown immersion DUV lithography machines, the light-based systems that print circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. The stock steadied Tuesday, last down about 1.8% on the day per CNBC.
Aishengna, incorporated in August 2023 with 7 billion yuan (~$1B) registered capital, plans first deliveries to SMIC, Hua Hong, and memory maker CXMT later this year, targeting about 5 units in 2026 and 20 in 2027. ASML plans roughly 130 DUV immersion systems in 2026, expanding output by 30% in 2027. China was 14% of ASML's Q2 2026 net system sales, about €6.6 billion (~$7.5B).
Production targets the older 193nm DUV layer, which prints 28nm-class chips with single exposure and reaches 7nm-class features through multipatterning. ASML's EUV position, built over roughly two decades and about $10B of R&D with Intel, TSMC, and Samsung, is the harder layer to dislodge. Critical Aishengna components are still imported from Japan, and analysts uniformly flagged that production entry is not high-volume manufacturing. Yield parity, in-fab reliability, and overlay performance remain the open questions.