【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】Breakthrough in photoinitiator technology for lithography resins at the Three Gorges Laboratory – another achievement in domestic substitution

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Key event: On December 9, Hubei Xingfu Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xingfu Electronics”) issued a announcement stating that it would acquire, for 46.2678 million yuan, the proprietary technology for producing photoinitiators used in photoresists, as well as the ownership of the experimental equipment related to this achievement, from Hubei Three Gorges Laboratory. This technology is primarily used in G/I-line photoresists, which are key materials in the chip and display industries. The successful transfer of this technology signifies that another critical technology in the semiconductor sector has now become available on the market in China, thereby ending the long-term monopoly of foreign companies over this material. The significance of technological breakthroughs: Resist is an essential core material in chip manufacturing, while photoinitiators are key components that determine the sensitivity and resolution of resist. For a long time, the market for high-end photoresists and their key raw materials has been highly monopolized by Japanese and American companies. The technical achievements of the Three Gorges Laboratory, the result of three years of research and development, have seen their performance metrics reach the same level as those of imported products from abroad. They have also passed the preliminary tests conducted by several photoresist manufacturers, making them ready for industrial application. This not only signifies an important breakthrough in the raw material sector of China’s domestic photoresist industry chain, but it also ensures a stable supply and cost control for downstream photoresist manufacturers. Industry chain and market context: Acceleration of domestic substitution: Research institutions predict that by 2025, the market share of domestically produced KrF lithography resins will reach 35%, while the proportion of domestically produced ArF resins is expected to exceed 20%. The rapid advancement in the localization of photoresists has directly driven demand for upstream raw materials such as photoinitiators. Tight supply and demand dynamics: Since the beginning of this year, the prices of photoinitiators have continued to rise, with an overall increase of nearly 15%. The supply side is constrained by factors such as environmental protection regulations, while the demand side shows strong growth driven by emerging fields such as the localization of PCBs and photoresists, as well as 3D printing. The market size is substantial: institutions estimate that the market size for photoinitiators in China will exceed 4.8 billion yuan by 2025, and is expected to reach 9.2 billion yuan by 2030, offering ample room for domestic substitution.