According to Nikkei Asia, 70% of the wafers used by domestic chip manufacturers in 2026 will need to be purchased from local suppliers. This is another key measure for China to promote the localization of the semiconductor supply chain in the context of the rapid development of the AI industry and the continued tightening of overseas export controls.
Informed sources revealed that this goal has become an unwritten hard requirement among domestic chip manufacturers, and overseas manufacturers can only participate in the remaining 30% of the market share.
Some chip industry executives said that some domestic manufacturers are still working on the research and development and production of advanced chips, and this field still needs technical support from leading overseas companies for the time being. However, in the local market for mature process chips, domestic silicon wafers can basically meet production needs.
At present, the core aspects of global semiconductors are still dominated by overseas companies. In the field of silicon wafer materials, Japan’s Shin-Etsu Chemical and SUMCO have long occupied the top market shares in the world (the world’s first and second silicon wafer manufacturers).
China has basically achieved self-sufficiency in the field of 8-inch silicon wafers. This type of wafers are mostly used in the production of mature process chips and power devices. However, the country was still highly dependent on imports of 12-inch (300mm) silicon wafers necessary for manufacturing high-performance logic chips and memory chips.
Local companies are accelerating to fill the production capacity gap. Xi’an Yisiwei Materials is the core force in the expansion of domestic 12-inch silicon wafer production. The company plans to achieve a monthly production capacity of 1.2 million 12-inch silicon wafers by 2026. This production capacity can cover about 40% of domestic market demand and will also push its global market share to exceed 10%. Shanghai Silicon Industry, Zhonghuan Leading, Hangzhou Liangwei and other companies are also simultaneously promoting production expansion. Among them, Yisiwei has the fastest expansion pace. Through the new production lines in Xi'an and Wuhan, it has added approximately 700,000 wafer production capacity per month.
At present, Yisiwei has entered the supply chain of domestic leading wafer fabs such as SMIC, providing core raw materials for the latter. Its products have also entered the supply chains of global customers such as Micron and UMC, and Samsung and SK Hynix are also verifying their products.
Bernstein research data shows that As of 2025, the domestic self-sufficiency rate for 12-inch wafers has reached approximately 50%. The global production capacity share of domestic manufacturers will increase from 3% in 2020 to 28% in 2025, and is expected to further increase to 32% in 2026.
Currently, domestic foundries are accelerating the expansion of production of 7nm to 5nm advanced chips to meet the explosive growth in AI computing power needs. Some advanced process production links still need to rely on overseas wafers. The United States' continued tightening of advanced chip export controls is further accelerating the localization process of the entire domestic semiconductor industry chain.