Samsung, SK Hynix reportedly test China's AMEC chip tools

Two of the world's biggest memory-chip makers have reportedly spent the last couple of years quietly qualifying Chinese etching equipment inside their Chinese fabs, and the story is a small but telling data point on where US export controls actually land.

According to a Reuters exclusive, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix began testing etching gear from Shanghai-based Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment about two years ago, hedging against the risk that Washington could restrict not just new imports but also maintenance and repair support for the Western tools already installed in their Chinese fabs. Take the specifics as reported rather than settled: Samsung told Reuters it has not tested AMEC equipment for use at its China factory and had not considered doing so, and SK Hynix declined to comment.

The context that makes the report plausible is the regulatory whiplash of the last few years. The US Commerce Department designated Samsung and SK Hynix's Chinese factories as "validated end users" in 2023, letting them import controlled US equipment without individual licences. Washington revoked that authorisation in 2025, and both firms only later received an annual licence covering equipment imports for 2026. That is exactly the kind of on-again, off-again exposure that makes a fab operator want a domestic backup for the tools it cannot easily swap out.

The bigger picture sits on the numbers Deutsche Bank is running. The bank estimates that Naura Technology, AMEC, Piotech and ACM Research will each generate more than $1 billion in revenue in 2026, and together capture 25% to 30% of China's projected $28 billion wafer-fab equipment market this year. Every qualification win inside a Samsung or SK Hynix line is a piece of servicing and consumables revenue that historically flowed to Applied Materials, Lam Research or KLA, whom Reuters flags as facing a longer-term challenge from these Chinese suppliers.

What the reporting does not give you is which technology nodes the AMEC tools are being tested on, how far along the qualification actually is, or whether production wafers have moved through Chinese equipment yet. Those details are what separate a hedge from a supply-chain shift, and Reuters itself notes hurdles that remain, including lengthy qualification processes, smaller service networks, intellectual-property concerns and potential political pressure from Washington. But the direction is the part worth watching. Controls designed to slow China's domestic industry keep handing Chinese toolmakers exactly the reference customers they needed.