Domestic substitution acceleration, AMHS manufacturers have great potential!

In the process of wafer manufacturing, thousands of process flows need to be completed, during which semiconductor equipment represented by lithography machines, etching machines, etc. have received widespread attention. However, there are still some devices that are not as well-known in the industry as lithography and etching machines, but still play important roles in the chip manufacturing process, and AMHS is one of them.

What is AMHS?

The full name of AMHS is Automatic Material Handling System, which is translated as Automatic Material Handling System in Chinese, also known as Crane System. It is one of the important products in the semiconductor manufacturing process to ensure wafer utilization rate and quality consistency. It is crucial to meet efficiency requirements and reduce the impact of personnel on clean rooms and wafer quality.

AMHS is mainly used to quickly and accurately transport and load wafers between production equipment according to the process flow. As the largest single investment project in modern semiconductor factory automation systems, it is known as the lifeline of third-generation and even future semiconductor chip processing plants and advanced packaging plants.

Currently, with the increase in labor costs and the improvement of intelligent and refined production, traditional manual handling between various machines has become a bottleneck in production efficiency and quality.

At present, AMHS has been widely used in semiconductor wafer fabs and LCD flat panel fabs, especially in semiconductor wafer fabs, where it is gradually replacing manual labor with advantages such as high automation, high-speed operation, high reliability, and high safety.

It is understood that a large part of the reason why wafer fabs adopt the AMHS system on a large scale is that it can quickly and accurately transport carriers to their destinations, thereby reducing idle time for wafers.

Mifei Technology "rides" on the overhead crane

According to the data, Mifei Technology focuses on the design, research and development, technical services, production and sales, and solutions of automatic material handling systems (AMHS) for semiconductor wafer fabs. It is a national high-tech enterprise, a national "specialized, refined, special and new small giant" enterprise, a pilot demonstration unit for enterprise and public institution patent work in Shanghai, a technology small giant (cultivation) enterprise in Lingang New Area, and an intelligent factory in Lingang New Area.

After nearly 10 years of development, Mifei Technology has become a well-known enterprise in the domestic semiconductor AMHS field, and has achieved a complete set of independent solutions for transmission, storage, purification equipment and software. AMHS products have passed 19 SEMI and CE certifications, breaking the Japanese technology monopoly.

As the core material of semiconductor manufacturing, wafers are extremely sensitive to humidity. Therefore, the wafer box must have strict humidity control function to ensure that the wafers are always in a suitable environment. At the same time, with the technological progress of advanced process nodes, the demand for purification equipment in wafer fabs is constantly increasing and improving, posing higher challenges and opportunities for purification equipment manufacturers.

At present, Mifei Technology has developed over 30 AMHS hardware devices and 5 software systems, including wafer box storage devices, photomask box storage devices, tower storage devices, near machine cache devices, machine purification devices, aerial cache purification devices, machine front-end purification devices, manual loading and unloading purification machines, as well as MCS and MSTC software.

It is reported that Mifei Technology has successfully completed the delivery and production of AMHS system whole plant orders for two 12 inch wafer fabs and one 8-inch wafer fab. Up to now, Mifei Technology has served nearly 40 well-known semiconductor manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad, with nearly 8000 equipment orders, and actively explored overseas markets. It has established global sales centers and overseas factories in Singapore and Malaysia respectively, indicating that Mifei Technology has the global supply capability to provide complete semiconductor AMHS solutions.

In July of this year, Mifei Technology completed a Series C financing of 100 million yuan. Afterwards, Mifei Technology successfully completed the delivery and commissioning of the first 12 inch wafer fab AMHS in China, filling the gap in the domestic semiconductor industry's 12 inch wafer fab level AMHS domestic substitution. This is undoubtedly a breakthrough for local AMHS equipment.

It is reported that the reason why Mifei Technology became the first domestic enterprise to deliver and put into use a 12 inch wafer fab is closely related to the stability and reliability of its AMHS system. The wafer manufacturing plant requires 365 days of uninterrupted production and operates 24 hours a day without interruption. The AMHS system directly affects the operational efficiency of wafer fabs.

According to Dr. Li Hongwei, CTO of Mifei Technology, in order to ensure the reliability and accuracy of wafer manufacturing plants, Mifei Technology has developed an AMHS integrated simulation verification platform. By simulating the complex production environment of semiconductor manufacturing and based on advanced data and algorithms, it can predict potential risks and problems during delivery and propose solutions in advance, thereby improving production efficiency and product quality. This has further helped Mifei Technology gain the trust of customers and "make a big splash" in the AMHS field.

Dr. Li Hongwei, CTO of Mifei Technology

AMHS has a promising future

Initially, the AMHS system was mainly used in 6-inch wafer fabs. With the expansion of wafer manufacturing sizes, the manufacturing area of 8-inch wafer fabs has also rapidly expanded, which has raised higher requirements for material transportation and plastic tracing management. With the promotion of 8-inch wafer fabs and the continuous development of 12 inch wafer fabs, the AMHS system is gradually entering the historical stage.

In March of this year, SEMI released the "300mm Wafer Plant Outlook Report 2027", which mentioned that global investment in 12 inch wafer plant equipment is expected to grow by 20% to $116.5 billion in 2025 and by 12% to $130.5 billion in 2026, setting a new historical high in 2027.

Currently, the global AMHS market accounts for approximately 3% of the total semiconductor equipment market. With the construction of large-scale wafer fabs, AMHS has been widely used, and the market size has achieved rapid growth. According to SEMI data, the compound annual growth rate of the global AMHS market from 2015 to 2022 was 24%. In 2022, the global market size of AMHS systems in wafer manufacturing is approximately $3.2 billion, and SEMI expects this number to reach nearly $4 billion by 2025.

Dr. Li Hongwei, CTO of Mifei Technology, also believes that wafer manufacturing is the application scenario with the highest requirements for AMHS system technology and reliability.

However, the global AMHS market is highly concentrated and is largely monopolized by Japan's Daifuku and Murata Machinery. These two manufacturers hold over 90% of the global wafer manufacturing market share, while the domestic AMHS localization rate is less than 10%.

Driven by the broad market prospects and the trend towards localization, domestic semiconductor equipment manufacturers are expected to usher in a new round of development opportunities and compete with international manufacturers. Let's wait and see!