Recently, the three major Japanese photoresist giants—JSR, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, and Shin-Etsu Chemical—jointly announced the implementation of a new pricing system for global customers starting October 1, 2026. The industry believes that this round of price hikes is jointly driven by tight supply and demand, rising costs, and changes in the industrial landscape. Driven by the price increases of these giants, what impact will it have on the semiconductor industry, and what will be the future of domestic photoresist manufacturers?
01. Three Major Giants Jointly Adjust Prices, with Significant Increases in High-End Photoresists
It is reported that the basic price increase for new orders across all categories from the three major photoresist giants has reached 15%, with specific category increases showing relatively obvious structural differences. Immersion ArF photoresists supporting HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) have seen the highest increase, reaching 24%, reflecting the strong pull of the AI computing power explosion on the capacity expansion of high-bandwidth memory chips.
The overall long-term agreement quotes for the high-end ArF series have been raised by 16%-22%. Among them, immersion ArF has strong bargaining power due to the highest technical barriers and the most concentrated supply. The price increase for standard KrF grades is relatively moderate, ranging between 9% and 14%. However, the price increase for thick-film KrF for 3D NAND has reached 18%-20%, which is also higher than the conventional level.
The industry points out that the driving factors for this round of price hikes come from multiple levels. On the demand side, the explosion of AI computing power has driven the capacity expansion of HBM and advanced process chips, leading to a shortage of high-end photoresists and pushing up manufacturers' bargaining power. On the supply side, Japanese manufacturers' capacity is shifting towards EUV and high-end ArF, resulting in a contraction in the supply of photoresists for mature processes. The capacity ramp-up for some high-end products is limited, leading to a simultaneous increase in spot orders and long-term agreement quotes.
In terms of costs, the costs of upstream raw materials such as resins and photoacid generators (PAG), as well as energy, are rising. Coupled with the prolonged approval cycle after some high-end photoresists were included in export controls, compliance costs have increased, and part of the costs has been passed on to end prices. In addition, leading manufacturers maintain price discipline through price hikes to cope with the cost pressure brought by previous capacity expansion and ensure profit levels.
02. Photoresist Price Hikes: What is the Impact on the Semiconductor Industry?
Photoresist is the core photosensitive material in the manufacturing process of semiconductors, display panels, and PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). It is composed of photosensitive resins, photoacid generators (PAG), solvents, and additives. In the photolithography process, photoresists undergo chemical changes through light exposure, transferring the fine patterns on the mask to substrates such as silicon wafers, glass, or PCBs, realizing precise circuit pattern processing.
The performance of photoresists directly determines the minimum feature size and integration density of chips. Given the evolution of processes towards 7nm, 3nm, and below nodes, the precision requirements for photoresists have increased exponentially, making photoresists one of the key material bottlenecks driving the continuous evolution of Moore's Law. At the same time, indicators such as the defect rate and line width roughness of photoresists directly affect chip yield. A highly matched photoresist can reduce the wafer scrap rate at wafer fabs, improve production line utilization rates, thereby reducing chip manufacturing costs.
From the perspective of product categories, high-end photoresists mainly include three major categories: KrF, ArF, and EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) Lithography photoresists.
KrF photoresists are mainly adapted to mature processes from 28nm to 90nm, covering memory chips, power semiconductors, automotive-grade MCUs (Microcontroller Units), etc.;
ArF photoresists are divided into dry ArF and immersion ArF. Dry ArF is mainly adapted to processes from 130nm to 65nm, while immersion ArF is adapted to processes from 65nm to 14nm. Coupled with multiple patterning technology, it can be extended to 7nm, making it a key material for the manufacturing of advanced logic chips and high-end memory chips. The technical barriers and per-ton value of immersion ArF are much higher than those of KrF;
EUV photoresists are adapted to top-tier processes of 7nm and below, used for flagship mobile phone chips and high-end AI (Artificial Intelligence) computing chips, representing the technical ceiling in the photoresist track.
The global high-end photoresist market has long been monopolized by international giants from Japan, the United States, and other countries, with a high degree of import dependence for domestic high-end photoresists.
However, according to industry observations, the price hikes by Japanese giants this time have a relatively limited impact on the overall costs of semiconductor wafer fabs. This is because photoresists account for an extremely low proportion of the overall wafer manufacturing costs, and wafer fabs generally adopt multi-source procurement and maintain safety stock.
Despite the low cost proportion, photoresists are of extremely high importance in the semiconductor manufacturing field. Since the price increase of photoresists widens the cost gap between domestic and imported products, coupled with the tight capacity of Japanese manufacturers, the industry believes that the willingness of wafer fabs to introduce domestic photoresists is expected to increase in the future, and the window period for domestic substitution will accelerate to open.
03. Domestic Manufacturers Hard to Follow Price Hikes in the Short Term, High-End Photoresist Domestic Substitution Welcomes Window
The industry believes that domestic photoresist manufacturers have limited motivation to comprehensively follow the price hikes in the short term, but some segmented categories with domestic substitution advantages or cost transmission capabilities have room for price increases. For example, the localization rate of ArF photoresists is extremely low, and the substantial price hikes by Japanese giants provide a window period for domestic substitution for domestic manufacturers. Some leading manufacturers that have achieved technological breakthroughs have a certain degree of bargaining power due to the shortage of supply for their products, and there are expectations for price increases.
However, limited by the small production capacity scale of domestic manufacturers and the inability to achieve large-scale volume in the short term, the actual price increase benefits that can be realized are limited. The core goal of manufacturers at this stage is still to promote stable mass production of products and expand market share, with price adjustments mostly placed after the capacity is fully released.
Recently, Dinglong Co., Ltd. revealed to the media that the overall localization rate of domestic photoresists is still at a low level. The core goal of the company at this stage is to go all out to promote the stable mass production of high-end photoresist products. Product pricing adjustments will only be considered after the capacity is fully released and the shipment scale is significantly increased.
The global high-end photoresist market presents a highly concentrated oligopoly pattern, mainly dominated by Japanese manufacturers. Representative enterprises include Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, JSR, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Fujifilm, and Sumitomo Chemical.
Tokyo Ohka Kogyo is in a leading position in the global market, with a leading share in the EUV field, and also occupies an important position in the KrF and g/i-line fields;
JSR holds an important share in the global market, is in a leading position in the EUV field, and has obvious advantages in the ArF field;
Shin-Etsu Chemical holds a large share in the global market, with outstanding advantages in the KrF and ArF fields;
Fujifilm has strong competitiveness in the field of chemically amplified resists;
Sumitomo Chemical has formed complementary advantages in the ArF and KrF fields.
In addition, DuPont in the United States holds an important position in the field of ArF immersion photoresists. Dongjin Semichem in South Korea dominates the OLED panel photoresist field and has achieved mass production of EUV photoresists.
Chinese enterprises have achieved large-scale domestic substitution in the low- and mid-end photoresist fields and are accelerating their catch-up in the high-end field.
Nata Opto-electronic is the first domestic enterprise to achieve large-scale mass production of 28nm process ArF photoresists, and the performance of some of its products is close to that of international giants;
Shanghai Sinyang has achieved breakthroughs in the field of KrF and ArF (dry/immersion) photoresists, and some high-end products have realized sales orders and industrialization introduction;
Jingrui Electronic Materials holds advantages in the field of KrF and g/i-line photoresists and is accelerating its expansion into the high-end ArF photoresist field;
Beijing Kempur, under Tongcheng New Materials, is the domestic leader in KrF photoresists and is accelerating its expansion into ArF photoresists, with some products having achieved mass production. On September 29 this year, Tongcheng New Materials officially listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, achieving a dual A+H capital platform listing. The net funds raised were approximately HKD 2.901 billion, which will be used for R&D to tackle core KrF/ArF technologies and production line upgrades.
Conclusion
The collective price hikes by the three major photoresist giants reflect the structural contradiction between the tight supply of high-end photoresists and the explosion of AI computing power demand. For the domestic industry, this is not only a cost pressure but also a window for accelerating domestic substitution. Given the increased willingness of downstream wafer fabs to introduce products and the shortened verification cycles, domestic high-end photoresist enterprises are expected to gradually take on more market share after capacity release and stable mass production of products.