Indium Phosphide (InP) is a binary compound semiconductor formed by the combination of Group IIIA indium and Group VA phosphorus. It belongs to direct bandgap semiconductors and features a zincblende crystal structure.
The journey from indium ore to InP substrates requires a complete process chain: crude indium, mostly a byproduct of tin and zinc smelting, is purified via electrolysis and vacuum distillation to produce high-purity indium of 5N or above; high-purity red phosphorus is obtained through the conversion and purification of industrial yellow phosphorus; the two are synthesized into InP polycrystals at a stoichiometric ratio under high pressure, followed by single-crystal growth using the Liquid Encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) method or the Vertical Gradient Freeze (VGF) method, and finally sliced, ground, and polished to obtain InP single-crystal substrates.
Divided by the industry chain, the upstream consists of high-purity indium, high-purity red phosphorus, and InP polycrystals; the midstream comprises InP single-crystal substrates; and the downstream includes epitaxial wafers and optical chips. This article will review the representative companies in each segment along this industry chain.
Yunnan Tin Co., Ltd. was established in 1998 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2000.The company's main business includes the exploration, mining, beneficiation, and smelting of metal ores such as tin, zinc, copper, and indium. Its resources are concentrated in the two major mining areas of Gejiu in Honghe and Dulong in Wenshan. Its reserves of tin and indium both rank first globally, with an indium smelting capacity of 105 tons per year. The company's main output is 5N-6N high-purity indium, while its joint-stock subsidiary Yunnan Tin New Materials is deploying 7N-8N ultra-high-purity indium;
In May 2026, Yunnan Tin stated on an interactive platform that Yunnan Tin currently possesses a certain scale of 7N and 8N high-purity indium production capacity and is simultaneously implementing capacity expansion work.
Yunnan Germanium Industry was established in 1998 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010.It is a listed company in the germanium industry with a complete industry chain, ranking first in the production and sales of germanium products nationwide, and is also a Manufacturing Single Champion Demonstration Enterprise recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In terms of InP substrates, Yunnan Germanium is one of the few domestic companies that have achieved large-scale mass production of 2-6 inch substrates, mainly handled by its subsidiary Yunnan Xinyao. In April 2026, the company launched the "High-Quality Indium Phosphide Single Crystal Wafer Construction Project" with an 18-month construction period, planning to expand the production line to an annual output of 300,000 pieces (equivalent to 4 inches, including 6,000 pieces of 6 inches), ultimately reaching an annual output of 450,000 pieces (equivalent to 4 inches). The subsidiary Yunnan Xinyao has signed supply contracts from August 2026 to the end of 2027, with a total amount of CNY 570 million to CNY 855 million, covering top optical module manufacturers such as Huawei, Zhongji Innolight, Eoptolink, and Accelink Technologies.
Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co., Ltd. was established in 1994 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1999. It is a globally operating enterprise centered on fine phosphorus chemicals, actively exploring the integrated development of phosphorus, silicon, sulfur, salt, and fluorine to improve the upstream and downstream integrated industry chain. In terms of high-purity red phosphorus, the company has achieved large-scale mass production of 6N electronic-grade high-purity red phosphorus, establishing an integrated industry chain from phosphate rock to high-purity yellow phosphorus and then to electronic red phosphorus. The annual production capacity of the 6N/7N shared line is 850 tons, of which the 7N-grade products have completed sampling and small-batch verification, with downstream supply to InP substrate manufacturers.
Shanghai Zhichun Clean Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2000 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2017. Its core main business is semiconductor cleaning equipment and high-purity chemical equipment, and it holds a stake in Wylton Jinglin. Wylton Jinglin is the only domestic company that has achieved mass production of low-sulfur 7N-grade high-purity red phosphorus. Its product purity is benchmarked against Japanese products, and its existing capacity of 35 tons has entered Huawei's InP supply chain. At the same time, it is deploying an expansion of 5,000 tons of high-purity electronic chemicals, forming synergy with the company's semiconductor customer resources.
Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. was established in 2000 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange through a backdoor listing in July 2008. Its main business is compound semiconductor materials and devices, with core operations focusing on epitaxial wafers and chips such as sapphire, gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN), silicon carbide (SiC), indium phosphide (InP), and aluminum nitride (AlN). The company is the only domestic enterprise that has achieved complete mass production of 6-inch InP IDM, connecting the entire chain from substrates, epitaxy, and high-speed optical chip manufacturing to packaging and testing. It has independently developed 6-inch InP substrates and built its own scaled epitaxial production line. On June 17, the company disclosed on an investor interactive platform that it has fully covered the entire process of epitaxial growth, chip manufacturing, and packaging and testing, with technology ranking at the forefront domestically. It has achieved large-scale mass production of 6-inch InP optical chips and completed a significant capacity expansion in the core epitaxial segment.
Shaanxi Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2013 and listed on the SSE STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2022. Focusing on semiconductor laser chips, its main business includes R&D, design, production, and sales. Its products cover the DFB and EML laser series with rates from 2.5G to 200G and higher, as well as high-power silicon photonic light sources of 50mW, 70mW, 100mW, etc. The company has established an IDM full-process system covering chip design, wafer manufacturing, chip processing, and testing, and possesses independent and controllable production lines for MOCVD epitaxial growth, grating processes, and optical waveguide fabrication.
Vital Technology Group Co., Ltd. was established in 1995 and possesses full industry chain capabilities for rare and scattered metals, covering indium, gallium, germanium, etc., building a complete chain from raw materials to substrates, epitaxy, and chips. In the field of InP substrates, Vital Semi (Guangdong Vital Microelectronics) took the lead in mass-producing 6-inch InP substrates, producing its own 8N high-purity indium. The Zhoushan capacity is 50,000 pieces/year, planned to expand to 150,000 pieces/year in 2026, with Wuhan deploying substrates, epitaxy, and chips. In August 2026, Guangzhi Technology completed a capital increase of CNY 301 million in Guangdong Xianrui Technology. Xianrui Technology's main business is 2-6 inch InP substrates. It has completed three generations of crystal iteration from 2-inch to 4-inch to 6-inch, and the current annual production capacity of 40 tons of InP crystals has started construction. On September 16, Guangzhi Technology disclosed that Xianrui Technology's InP substrates have achieved batch delivery, covering top domestic optical chip enterprises, and have been shipped in batches to leading overseas optical communication companies, among which the 6-inch InP substrates have secured an order from a certain global leading customer.
Wuhan Tuocai Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2015, and is a high-tech enterprise focusing on high-purity metals/semiconductor materials. Relying on the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing at Wuhan University of Technology, it can produce high-purity metals and compound materials such as tellurium, indium, germanium, gallium, arsenic, tin, and antimony. On June 18, 2026, the company held the commissioning ceremony for the high-purity semiconductor materials project and released an annual output of 30 tons of 7N high-purity red phosphorus products. The company has broken through ppb-level impurity control with its independent process, breaking overseas monopolies and filling the domestic gap.
Zhuhai Dingtai Xinyuan Crystal Co., Ltd. was established in March 2017, located in the Zhuhai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. It was founded by the III-V compound semiconductor technology team of the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, focusing on the R&D, production, and sales of III-V compound semiconductor single-crystal materials. Its core products are InP substrates, with sizes covering 2 inches to 6 inches.
Nanjing Jiyi Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. was established in August 2022. Its main business is gallium arsenide (GaAs) wafers and 4N metallic gallium. In 2025, the revenue proportion of the two types of products was approximately 84.77% and 15.02%, respectively. Its InP business is undertaken by its wholly-owned subsidiary Daqing Yitai Semiconductor Materials Co., Ltd., which is a national high-tech enterprise and a national-level specialized, refined, differential, and innovation "Little Giant" enterprise. Daqing Yitai has the production capacity of 3.6 million pieces of 4-inch optoelectronic GaAs wafers, 30,000 pieces of microelectronic GaAs wafers, 30,000 pieces of InP wafers, 10,000 pieces of gallium antimonide wafers, and 40 tons of 4N gallium per year, and has independently developed key equipment such as polycrystal synthesis furnaces, single-crystal growth furnaces, and wafer polishing machines.
Beijing Mingjia Semiconductor Co., Ltd. was established in November 2020. Headquartered in Shunyi, Beijing, its mass production factory is located in Anyang, Henan. Its main business is the single-crystal growth and substrate mass production of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor gallium oxide (Ga2O3), InP crystals for optical communication, and large-size doped optical crystals. The company is one of the main domestic enterprises for the industrialization of gallium oxide. Its substrate products have been introduced into the supply chains of power device and high-speed optical module manufacturers, and it is building a "polycrystalline materials - single-crystal substrates - device epitaxy" chain. On July 27, 2026, the company completed a Pre-B round of financing of over CNY 150 million. Investors include Qianxi Capital, Xinhe Capital, Anyang Economic Development Group, etc., with funds invested in the capacity expansion of gallium oxide and InP; previously, in January 2026, it completed an A++ round of financing of CNY 110 million, used for the R&D of 6-inch gallium oxide, the construction of a 2-4 inch gallium oxide pilot line, and the expansion of InP polycrystal production.
Zhongxun Semiconductor (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. was established in 2022 and registered in Changzhou, Jiangsu. Its main business is the R&D, production, and sales of compound semiconductor substrate materials such as InP. It owns 29 valid patents and has the production technical conditions for 2-4 inch InP single-crystal substrates, with a yield rate of about 30% in the single-crystal growth process. The company is promoting the mass production ramp-up of 4-inch products and the R&D of 6-inch substrate technology in stages, and has sent samples to multiple semiconductor customers and obtained parameter confirmation.