Today on Forbes, brothers become billionaires from supplying chemicals to China's semiconductor

industry. China's push for self-sufficiency in semiconductor manufacturing has benefited

companies across the supply chain. The latest to get a boost is Hube Dinglong, which

supplies materials essential for the chipmaking process.

Its Shen Gen listed shares have surged nearly 116% over the past year,

propelling co-founders Zhu Shuang Kuan and Zhu Shun Kwan into the three-coma club.

Shuang Kwan, the company's 61-year-old chairman and his 57-year-old brother Shun Kwan,

who serves as CEO, owns stakes of roughly 15% each.

Forbes estimates the siblings are worth $1.3 billion apiece based on last Friday's closing

price of just over 64 yuan.

Hubei Dinglong didn't respond to a comment request regarding the pair's billionaire status.

The Wuhan-based company is China's key player in chemical mechanical polishing, or CMP,

a process to flatten the surface of silicon wafers so that circuits can be printed and chips can be stacked.

The company says it is China's only supplier that covers the full range of CMP materials,

from the semi-liquid known as slurries for flattening,

to the cleaning fluid for removing any residue after the process.

Since the U.S. imposed chip-related export controls on China in 2022,

Dinglong has expanded into materials for lithography,

a major hurdle for China's self-reliance in semiconductors,

where ultraviolet light is used to print circuits onto silicon wafers. In lithography, Dinglong

manufacturers photo resist, a chemical that captures the circuit design, though its most advanced

products can only be used in lower-end chip manufacturing.

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