• Leading supplier of materials critical for semiconductor production, JSR CEO said a lack of industry infrastructure would make it “very difficult” for China to develop cutting-edge chipmaking technology despite a push for self-sufficiency, the Financial Times reports.

• Semiconductors, essential to products from smartphones to washing machines, have become a focus of competition between the U.S. and China.

• Johnson said, “leading-edge capability takes decades and a lot of money to develop . . . you really need applications like the Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone to pay for the stuff”.

• Eric Johnson expected chip sector supply bottlenecks to continue into 2023.

• Johnson said China would struggle to master the sophisticated chipmaking technology based on extreme ultraviolet or EUV lithography.

• EUV lithography is a highly demanding process using light for etching minuscule integrated circuits onto silicon wafers.

• Analysts said JSR has 30%-40% of the global market for photoresists to make advanced chips and counts Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd (OTC: SSNLF), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd (NYSE: TSM), and Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) among its customers.

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