China’s campaign for semiconductor self-sufficiency has entered a consolidation phase, with state-backed toolmakers swallowing smaller rivals in a bid to forge national champions aimed at defying US export curbs. In the latest move, Shanghai-listed chip equipment maker Piotech said in a filing to the stock exchange on Saturday that it planned to acquire a controlling stake in Wuxi Shangji Semiconductor. Piotech’s largest shareholder was China’s state-backed National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund – better known as the Big Fund – which held a 16.5 per cent stake as of late March, according to the company’s first-quarter report. Formally known as Tuojing Technology, Piotech planned to fund the acquisition via share issuance and cash, while raising supporting funds. The transaction was in its early stages, and a final price had not been determined, Piotech said. The acquisition is designed to help Piotech expand beyond its core strength in thin-film deposition equipment – such as PECVD and ALD – alongside wafer-bonding technologies for three-dimensional integration. Founded in 2021, Wuxi Shangji develops physical vapour deposition (PVD), etching and chemical vapour deposition (CVD) equipment, according to its annual report. Its products serve sectors including power devices, advanced packaging, compound semiconductors and integrated circuits. This transition from single-tool specialist to broad platform provider has grown urgent as Washington’s export controls tighten China’s access to advanced foreign chipmaking tools. Domestic chipmakers and memory manufacturers are expanding their capacity, creating a market for Chinese toolmakers that can offer comprehensive production lines. Thin-film deposition equipment is used for depositing or growing microscopically thin layers of conductive metals or insulating materials onto the silicon. While CVD uses chemical gas reactions to “grow” uniform films over microscopic structures, PVD physically splatters metal atoms onto flat surfaces. Thin-film deposition is one of the most critical front lines in China’s self-reliance drive. Thin-film deposition tools account for about 22 per cent of the front-end manufacturing equipment market, while PVD makes up about 19 per cent of the thin-film segment, according to a June report by China Merchants Securities. Piotech has been a beneficiary of this import-substitution wave. In the first quarter, the company’s revenue surged 57 per cent, year on year, to 1.11 billion yuan (US$162 million), swinging to a net profit of 571 million yuan from a loss in the same quarter last year. To fuel its scaling, Piotech also announced a separate private-placement plan to raise up to 4.6 billion yuan. The proceeds would be earmarked for a high-end semiconductor equipment industrialisation base, a frontier technology research centre and general working capital to cement its position as a diversified national champion, the company said.