Barred by the US from buying new equipment, Chinese semiconductor companies see the used machinery market as their best route to maintaining and growing their manufacturing capacity.
Litho machines are the most sort after items and their price is reported to have gone up 3x.
Apparently the Chinese are buying machines even if they don’t want them for immediate use – just to put them into storage for future deployment.
Hitachi Capital is quoted as saying that the price of immediately available machines is higher than the price of new machines as the China firms scramble to procure them.
The Nikkei quotes one Japanese used equipment dealer saying: “Machines that were basically worthless several years ago are now selling for 100 million yen.”
20- to 30-year-old machines are said to be operating in Chinese fabs.
At Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing a source is quoted saying: “Machines we bring in are shipped directly to the next plants. They literally disappear instantly.”
Source: electronicsweekly
