China’s answer to ASML runs on Zeiss lenses, Financial Times reports

Huawei is coordinating China’s deep-ultraviolet lithography push, linking dozens of vendors to deliver a prototype that uses Zeiss projection lenses—components Zeiss officially sells only to ASML and that China must source second-hand. Huawei-backed funds have taken stakes in Fujian Zhiqi Photonics and Beijing RSLaser Opto-Electronics to secure ultra-precision optics and light-source modules, addressing two critical bottlenecks in the domestically built DUV machine now being tested by SMIC and Huawei’s own fabs.