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author/starch gut under the starry sky

editor/spinach’s starry sky

typesetting/leeks under the starry sky

2024, globalsemiconductor marketushered in a strong recovery. according to the latest data from sia, the global semiconductor industry’s cumulative sales in the second quarter reached us$149.9 billion (approximately 1.07 trillion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 18.3% and a month-on-month increase of 6.5%. especially in june 2024, single-month sales increased by 22.9% year-on-year and 1.7% month-on-month. this growth rate set a record since april 2022.new high. this data sends a positive signal to the semiconductor industry chain.

today we will talk about the indispensable components in the semiconductor production processsecond largestmaterial-electronic special gas. in the global electronic special gases market, special gases consumed by semiconductors account for 1% of the total market.73%, is a veritable consumer. in this field, the linde group, a giant with a market value of over one trillion yuan, has emerged, with its market value currently reaching 1.6 trillion yuan.

linde share price, data source: snowball

however, in such a critical material field, the market share and voice of chinese companies are very low. although many companies are currently working hard to break through, in the face of extremely high technical thresholds, the end of the road to breakthrough is far from visible.

1. semiconductor’s second largest consumables

the large field of electronic special gases is industrial gases. industrial gases are divided into bulk gases and special gases. bulk gases are used in industrial production in large quantities, accounting for 80% of industrial gases. special gases play a vital role in electronics, medical, food and other fields due to their high purity and special uses. electronic special gas occupies a major market share of approximately60%。

electronic special gas is characterized by itshigh technology、high added valueit plays an irreplaceable role in the production of semiconductors, lcd panels, photovoltaics, led and other electronic industries. its qualitydirect impactelectronic device yield and performance. the most eye-catching one is the application in the semiconductor field. electronic special gases are indispensable basic and supporting raw materials in the wafer manufacturing process, accounting for approximately13%, second only to silicon wafers, is crucial to the performance of semiconductor products.

proportion of wafer manufacturing materials, data source: xinchao ic

from preparing epitaxial wafers to cleaning, deposition, photolithography, etching, and doping, electronic special gases run through many aspects of wafer processing and are known as the food for chip processing. currently, there are 114 kinds of special gases used in various aspects of the semiconductor industry, and 44 kinds are commonly used, mainly including nitrogen trifluoride, tungsten hexafluoride, hexafluorobutadiene, ammonia, etc.

application of electronic special gas in centralized circuits, source: zheshang securities research institute

2. technical barriers are extremely high

although electronic specialties play a prominent role in the semiconductor industry, chinese companies have long faced problems in this field.foreign monopolydilemma. mr. ren qilong, an academician of the chinese academy of engineering, once pointed out that my country’s industrial gases have long relied on germany, the united states and france. among the special gases required for the production of integrated circuits, the domestic production rate is onlyabout 20%. my country's industrial blood (industrial gas) faces a huge anemia problem.

whether it is the global market or the chinese market, the electronic special gas market share is almost monopolized by companies from the united states, france, germany, japan and other countries. our country’s ultra-high purity special gas is even morealmost entirely dependent on imports. the import of electronic special gas is a huge expense, and the price of some varieties is as high as tens of thousands of yuan per kilogram, which has brought heavy losses to the enterprise.cost pressure。

electronic special gas market share, data source: xinchao ic

the reason why it is difficult for our country to occupy a larger market share of electronic special gas is that electronic special gaswhole industry chainoftechnical barriers are extremely high. the purity requirements for electronic special gases are extremely stringent. purity includes two indicators: purity and cleanliness. purity refers to the higher the content of the main component, the better, and cleanliness refers to the lower the residual amount of impurities, the better. the current purity requirements for the 90-nanometer process are 5n or 6n, and the impurity requirements are less than 10-9, that isone billionth. for more refined processes, the requirements are higher, and the metal elements must be purified toone trillionth。

electronic special gas purity requirements, data source: xinchao ic

however, the above-mentioned technical barriers to cleanliness are only the first obstacle. even if a company successfully breaks through the technical barriers and successfully produces products, it will face very strict requirements for external sales.qualification reviewwith certification, the verification cycle generally takes 2 to 3 years. finally, even if the products and customers are in place, the containers, pipes, valves, etc. needed to store and transport electronic special gases are not independently controllable and need to be imported in large quantities, which undoubtedly brings greater obstacles and costs to manufacturers. moreover, there is also a huge gap between my country and foreign countries in terms of detection technology and special instruments related to electronic special gases.

3. domestic substitution has achieved initial results

despite facing many difficulties, chinese enterprises have made great achievements in the field of electronic special gases.initial results. my country’s a-shares already havemore than 15 companiesmanufacturers are focusing on the electronic special gas market. in addition, many start-up companies are targeting the electronic special gas field and have obtained financing. many listed companies such as $cssc special gas (sh688146)$, $nanda optoelectronics (sz300346)$, and $wate gas (sh688268)$ have achieved revenue in the field of electronic special gases.breaking through 1 billion yuan, and the gross profit margin is basically maintained atmore than 36%, electronic special gas products can already achieve blood transfusion functions.

performance of major listed companies in electronic special gas in 2023 (100 million yuan), data source: wind

according to data released by techcet, the global electronic special gas market size will be us$5.001 billion in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 8.43%, setting a record high. it is expected that by 2025, the global electronic special gas market will reach us$6.023 billion, with an average annual compound growth rate of 6.39% from 2022 to 2025. based on this scale, my country’s electronics and special gas companies account for the global market shareat least 10% or more. domestic substitution has achieved initial results.

however, behind the initial success is the fact that most domestic companies choose electronic specialty gas varieties with large market sizes for production, because the benefits brought by gases with small market shares may not even cover the company's r&d investment. this has led to the emergence of domestic companieshomogeneous competition. the most representative one isnitrogen trifluoridenitrogen trifluoride is the largest electronic specialty gas in the global market, accounting for 20% of the market. according to statistical data, its global production capacity is 30,000 tons, and its domestic share is 30%. in additiontungsten hexafluorideit is also favored by manufacturers.

the top ten electronic specialties in global market size in 2021, data source: minsheng securities research institute

the prosperity of the downstream industry continues to rebound, and there is broad room for the development of electronic specialties. at present, domestic electronic special gas has achieved a breakthrough from 0 to 1. with the quantity, we need to pay more attention to it next.quality. from a long-term perspective, on the basis of ensuring a stable market share of existing products, domestic companies must jump out of the circle of homogeneous competition and compete for more electronic specialty types.