On January 8, 2026, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China (AMEC, 688012.SH) issued an announcement revealing that its Chairman and General Manager, Yin Zhiyao, plans to sell 0.046% of the company's shares between January 30 and April 29. The reason cited for the sale is the need to handle related tax matters in accordance with the law, following his recent restoration of Chinese citizenship from a foreign nationality. As of the market close on January 9, AMEC's stock price was 336.68 yuan per share, giving the company a total market capitalization of 210.8 billion yuan. The value of the shares Yin intends to sell is approximately 97.64 million yuan.
This single announcement has thrust the nearly 82-year-old Yin Zhiyao and AMEC into the spotlight, attracting significant market attention. Currently, Yin Zhiyao holds a 0.664% stake in AMEC.
By the market close on January 16, AMEC's market capitalization had exceeded 230 billion yuan. For Yin Zhiyao, the journey from founding AMEC in 2004 to the present day represents over two decades of effort to build the company from scratch into a globally leading player in micro-fabrication equipment. In the etching sector, it now stands as a formidable competitor against international giants like Applied Materials and Lam Research. Two decades ago, the prevailing view was that a Chinese startup had little chance of survival in the highly technical, fiercely competitive field of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which was then absolutely dominated by American and Japanese titans. Yin Zhiyao, however, fundamentally altered that perception throughout the industry. Today, AMEC boasts a substantial market capitalization of 236.1 billion yuan (as of January 16, 2026). The company's latest disclosed third-quarter report shows that for the first three quarters of 2025, it achieved operating revenue of 8.063 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.40%. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached 1.211 billion yuan, surging 32.66% compared to the same period last year.
(Image Source: AMEC) Founded at Age 60 Born in 1944, Yin Zhiyao tested into Beijing's prestigious No. 4 High School in 1956, where he was a schoolmate of Jiang Shangzhou, the former chairman of SMIC. After rigorous academic training, earning a bachelor's degree in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China and pursuing graduate studies in the Chemistry Department of Peking University, Yin set out for Silicon Valley in the 1980s. This was the golden era when Morris Chang was making his mark at Texas Instruments and Intel was solidifying its semiconductor dominance. Yin spent nearly 20 years working for semiconductor behemoths including Intel, Lam Research, and Applied Materials. He was personally involved in the development of multiple generations of etching machines and is recognized as one of the key inventors and industrial pioneers of several generations of plasma etch technology and equipment; many of these machines remain operational on production lines worldwide today. Etching is one of the three core processes in chip manufacturing (alongside lithography and thin-film deposition). Just as lithography machines are seen as crucial for breaking through advanced process nodes, foundry giants like TSMC, SMIC, and SK Hynix rely on high-precision plasma etching technology to carve billions of microscopic trenches with extreme aspect ratios onto silicon wafers as they push towards more advanced processes. Through diligence and intellect, Yin made significant contributions: at Lam Research, he led the development of the "Rainbow" capacitive dielectric plasma etcher, helping the company establish market and technological leadership. At Applied Materials, serving as Corporate Vice President, General Manager of the Etch Product Business Group, and Chief Technology Officer of the Asia Headquarters, he was involved in the development of nearly all the most important generations of etching equipment at the time. During his two decades in Silicon Valley, Yin Zhiyao was personally granted over 80 U.S. patents and was widely acknowledged as one of the most influential experts in the field of plasma etch technology. If lithography is akin to drawing an incredibly precise circuit blueprint on a silicon wafer, and thin-film deposition is responsible for laying down a film on the wafer's surface, then etching is the process of sculpting microscopic trenches, removing the film precisely where it shouldn't be according to the blueprint. As chip processes advanced from 28 nanometers to more sophisticated nodes, the difficulty of this microscopic sculpting increases exponentially. Summarizing the critical role of etching in chip manufacturing, Yin Zhiyao explained that achieving extremely high-precision "microscopic sculpting" capability is vital for the semiconductor industry to overcome physical limits. From early nodes like 65nm and 40nm to the current challenges of 5nm and 3nm, the evolution of each generation is inseparable from the precise operation of etching machines. He likened micro-fabrication to "cutting paper window decorations": thin-film deposition provides the "red paper," the lithography machine draws the "pattern" on the paper, and the plasma etcher acts as the extremely precise "scissors," responsible for removing the unwanted parts to ultimately carve out the layered microscopic structures. Although lithography has always been considered the "big brother" among the three processes, as processes advanced below 14nm, even the wavelength of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines could not directly draw finer lines. The industry then had to turn to multi-patterning techniques, utilizing a combination of etching and deposition processes to refine the lines from coarse to fine. Today, every breakthrough in etching technology directly removes obstacles for mass production at advanced nodes, while improvements in chip performance, in turn, impose even stricter demands on etching processes, creating a cycle that propels Moore's Law forward. In 2004, heeding the advice of Jiang Shangzhou, then Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic Commission, Yin Zhiyao resigned from his position as Vice President at Applied Materials, then the world's largest semiconductor equipment supplier. He returned to Shanghai to found Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China (AMEC), dedicating the remainder of his career to China's semiconductor industry by focusing on semiconductor etching process equipment. Breaking Through the Siege: Repeatedly Facing U.S. Government Pressure In its early days, AMEC faced an incredibly difficult situation, confronting international giants that had established decades-long patent barriers and market dominance. Faced with this suffocating pressure, Yin did not choose to simply follow the conventional path of catching up. Instead, he insisted on achieving innovation and differentiation in the technological roadmap to leapfrog the competition directly. For instance, tackling a plasma source problem that had plagued the industry for 20 years, AMEC pioneered the concept of "decoupled reactive ion etching," which applied both high and low-frequency AC RF to the lower electrode. This technology was years ahead of international giants and even prompted subsequent industry adoption. In terms of equipment architecture, AMEC took an unconventional path, developing an ingenious "dual reaction chamber simultaneous processing" design. This solution, which processes two wafers simultaneously within a single reactor, doubled production efficiency within the same footprint. In June 2007, AMEC successfully developed its first dual-reaction-chamber CCP etching equipment and delivered it to a domestic customer. This etcher, applicable to 12-inch wafer production lines and covering chip production from 65nm to 45nm, marked a breakthrough from zero to one for domestic high-end etching equipment. It was precisely through this distinctive path of technological innovation that AMEC successfully secured a place for Chinese semiconductor equipment in the global market. AMEC's rapid rise in the etching field quickly drew the vigilance of international giants. For the incumbents, litigation is often the cheapest and most effective means to curb potential competitors. In October 2007, Applied Materials initiated legal action, suing AMEC in U.S. federal court, alleging patent infringement and theft of trade secrets. Subsequently, Lam Research also filed a lawsuit against AMEC. At the time, AMEC was still small, with limited funds, and facing opponents with market caps hundreds of times larger; many outsiders believed the startup was doomed. However, Yin Zhiyao demonstrated typical engineer-like rationality. He implemented a rigorous "clean room" R&D process internally, requiring developers to conduct exhaustive patent circumvention from the very beginning of the design phase to ensure the independence of their technological path. Furthermore, he did not hesitate to spend $25 million to hire a top-tier legal team to conduct a detailed review of the company's vast documentation, proving that its core technology was entirely self-developed and not derived from his former employer, Applied Materials. During the years-long legal battle, AMEC not only presented solid records of original R&D in court but also directly demonstrated to the judge its reactor chamber design, which was completely independent and different from its opponents'. While building its defenses, Yin also went on the offensive, suing Applied Materials in Shanghai for unfair competition. After a two-and-a-half-year stalemate, the parties reached a settlement, signifying that AMEC had firmly established its technological footing. Lam Research also later sued AMEC for patent infringement, but those cases likewise ended in victories for AMEC. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Commerce lifted export controls on high-end etching equipment to China, citing that the successful R&D and mass production of AMEC's plasma etchers made the technological blockade "unnecessary." To date, AMEC has developed 18 types of plasma etching equipment, covering applications from 65nm down to 5nm and more advanced process nodes. In thin-film deposition equipment (MOCVD), starting from scratch in 2010, AMEC managed to break the long-standing duopoly of U.S.-based Veeco and Germany's Aixtron in the domestic market. On July 22, 2019, AMEC listed on the STAR Market, becoming one of the first 25 companies on the board and the only semiconductor equipment manufacturer among them. It is regarded by the market as a benchmark for "hard tech." Simultaneously, AMEC's performance on its listing day was highly noteworthy. Its price-to-earnings ratio at issuance reached a staggering 170 times, far exceeding the common 23-times ceiling in the A-share market at the time, and was seen as a significant indicator of China's capital markets shifting focus from "profit scale" to "R&D accumulation." Following its IPO, AMEC's challenges evolved from commercial litigation to geopolitical games, repeatedly facing pressure from the U.S. government. Geopolitical factors have forced AMEC to accelerate its R&D efforts to address technological gaps. Financial reports show that in the first three quarters of 2025, AMEC's R&D expenditure reached 2.523 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of approximately 63.44%, with R&D intensity soaring to 31.29%. Chairman Has Restored Chinese Citizenship from U.S. Citizenship An anecdote widely circulated upon his return to China at age 60 involves Yin Zhiyao taking a taxi in Shanghai. The driver, observing his demeanor, casually remarked that he "looked to be only about 38." Upon hearing that Yin was already 60, the driver was astonished. To this day, Yin maintains an exceptionally high work intensity, actively involved on the front lines of both research and management. The company he built from the ground up has accomplished the leap from zero to competing on the same stage as American and Japanese giants. Positioned at the epicenter of geopolitical storms, Yin, with the legal rationality of a seasoned Silicon Valley veteran, has responded calmly, insisting on using legal logic to counter political pressure and adopting an offensive defense strategy. Over these two decades, he has demonstrated that in the hardcore arena of hard technology, Chinese companies can not only achieve breakthroughs through technology but also earn respect through adherence to rules and strategic vision. Now, at 82 years old, through this share sale announcement, Yin Zhiyao has revealed a major personal milestone: the restoration of his Chinese citizenship from U.S. citizenship. This represents a final affirmation of his original entrepreneurial intentions for this "Silicon Valley veteran." Reflecting on the past, Yin once expressed that although his two decades in Silicon Valley involved deep participation in the rise of top U.S. and Japanese semiconductor equipment giants, as someone who received a solid education in China and possessed over a decade of domestic practical experience before leaving for the U.S. at 36, he always carried a sense of obligation towards his homeland. "I should do things for my own country," he felt. This sense of patriotic duty is not merely a personal aspiration but also a continuation of a family legacy. "The three generations before me in my family all returned to serve the motherland after their studies, participating in the democratic revolution and socialist construction," Yin stated. "So I must emulate the spirit of my predecessors."
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