At the 2026 graduation ceremony held on June 14, Tongji University President and CAS Academician Yang Jinlong delivered a speech citing the decades-long perseverance of alumnus He Rongming’s team in developing lithography machines as an inspirational case. The published transcript on the university’s official website that same day confirmed: He Rongming’s team has been based in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang area since the 1980s, building an indigenous technology system from scratch and overcoming key technologies such as precision optics and ultra-precision motion control. The advanced packaging lithography machine they developed holds over 80% of the domestic market share. According to an archived version of the speech from NetEase News and a summary of relevant paragraphs from a Telegram channel (Zaihua Channel), the original speech also revealed that in May 2025, the first ArF immersion lithography machine, independently developed by He Rongming’s team, was officially delivered to SMIC. Using multi-patterning, it can stably support 7nm and above chip manufacturing processes, breaking the long-standing foreign monopoly in high-end front-end lithography equipment. The team’s advanced packaging lithography machine has a 33% international market share, ranking among the global leaders. These specific data paragraphs were subsequently removed from the official version published on Tongji University News Network. The current university website version only retains a general description of the achievements of He Rongming’s team regarding packaging lithography machines.
The ArF immersion lithography machine is one of the most critical front-end equipment in the chip mass production process chain, long monopolized by Dutch ASML, Japanese Nikon, and Canon. If the delivery data is accurate, it would represent a major milestone in China’s independent breakthrough in the high-end front-end lithography field. The removal of the relevant paragraphs has sparked widespread attention, with many speculating that the reason for the deletion may be related to information security or the timing of public disclosure. In the context of China’s export control situation, the ArF immersion lithography machine is highly strategically sensitive. The authorities have yet to make an official statement on the status of this equipment.