Chinese chip-related stocks jumped after the nation claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown semiconductor-making equipment.

Shares in Changchun UP Optotech Co gained by the daily 10 per cent limit, while Sai Micro Electronics Inc climbed as much as 5.3 per cent. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. rose as much as 1.9 per cent and Naura Technology Group Ltd. less than a per cent.

The stock market believed that China was making progress working around US export curbs on essential chip equipment. Such gear is one of the key bottlenecks in China’s semiconductor ambitions.

However, the new laser-based immersion lithography machine, which already has the government blessing has a resolution of 65 nanometers. While this is better than the 90nm developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co. — which stood at around, it might as well be as thick as an Apple fanboy [are you sure that is a universal measurement? Ed.].

Companies like SMEE are racing to develop machines to close the gap with suppliers like ASML, which are now barred from shipping to China.

While things look good for SMEE and its peers, China’s chips are still about a decade behind the US and Europe.