Chinese chipmaker Hwatsing Technology announces breakthrough in six-inch wafer polishing metrology system

Aug 7, 2026

Chinese chipmaker Hwatsing Technology has announced China's first integrated six-inch wafer metrology system, which embeds real-time measurement directly into the chemical mechanical polishing workflow. The system aims to improve yields and reduce waste for mature-node chips used in electric vehicles and sensors. While Hwatsing has grown its global market share to nearly 11% and shipped 1,000 systems, China's broader semiconductor industry remains constrained by US-led export controls on advanced ASML lithography equipment.

Six-inch wafer metrology integration

▪Hwatsing Technology's six-inch metrology system targets chips used in power devices, microelectromechanical systems, and sensors, which are widely used in electric vehicles, industrial equipment, consumer electronics, and telecommunications.
▪Hwatsing Technology shipped its new six-inch metrology system to an unnamed leading domestic optical silicon materials producer.
▪Hwatsing Technology announced a new metrology system for six-inch wafers on August 6, 2026, which is China's first six-inch metrology system paired with chemical mechanical polishing equipment.
▪Hwatsing Technology's six-inch metrology system integrates directly into the polishing workflow to provide real-time measurements before and after polishing and feed live data back to the control system.

Chemical mechanical polishing yields

▪Integrating real-time metrology into the chemical mechanical polishing workflow aims to improve wafer uniformity, detect defects, and reduce waste, which is critical for older lithography fabs.
▪Chemical mechanical polishing, or planarization, uses chemical reactions and mechanical abrasion to flatten and smooth silicon discs between processing layers to ensure nanometer-level flatness.

Hwatsing CMP market growth

▪Applied Materials and Ebara, which holds roughly 27% of the global market, continue to lead the chemical mechanical polishing market ahead of Hwatsing Technology.
▪Hwatsing Technology shipped its 1,000th chemical mechanical polishing system in April 2026 and is targeting advanced chip manufacturing next.
▪Hwatsing Technology is seeking up to 4 billion yuan (around $552 million) through a private placement and investing $237 million in a new plant to expand capacity and fund high-end tool development.
▪China's share of the global chemical mechanical polishing equipment market rose from approximately 1.5% in 2022 to almost 11% in 2023, with Hwatsing Technology driving most of the gain.

China semiconductor equipment self-sufficiency

▪Chinese memory maker CXMT, whose DRAM chips are being tested by Apple, experienced a 466% stock jump on its Shanghai debut, demonstrating China's ability to build world-scale chip companies.
▪China's semiconductor equipment self-sufficiency rate has reportedly reached approximately 35%, up from roughly 25% two years earlier, as domestic companies develop solutions for etching, polishing, and metrology.

ASML lithography export controls

▪China's homegrown immersion Deep Ultraviolet lithography tool has been named Shanghai Aishengna, representing a more consequential localization effort than metrology upgrades.
▪ASML holds a 100% global monopoly on manufacturing Extreme Ultraviolet lithography machines, which China is barred from purchasing under United States-led export controls.