US chip stocks fall after report of Chinese DUV lithography breakthrough

US semiconductor shares fell on Wall Street on Monday after The Information reported that Chinese company Shanghai Yuliangsheng is making immersion deep ultraviolet lithography machines, a technology used to etch microscopic circuits onto silicon.

AMD shares fell as much as eight percent, Nvidia nearly five percent, Micron five percent and Intel 3.7 percent.

The report, if confirmed, could reduce China’s dependence on ASML, the Dutch supplier affected by export restrictions outside the European Union. It could also help China speed up processor development and narrow part of the gap with advanced US chip and artificial intelligence companies.

Shanghai Yuliangsheng did not immediately respond to AFP. SiCarrier and Huawei, two companies with ties to the group, also did not immediately respond.

The US declines were followed by sharp early Tuesday losses in Asian chip-linked shares. The Nikkei 225 was down 4.1 percent at 62,248.78, while South Korea’s Kospi was down 7.9 percent at 6,221.81. Samsung fell more than seven percent and SK hynix was down 7.5 percent.