The following article is sourced from Elecfans Network, authored by Wu Zipeng.

In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, the AMHS (Automated Material Handling System) is regarded as the core infrastructure that ensures production efficiency, yield, and factory stability. Semiconductor manufacturing involves complex processes, including lithography, etching, deposition, and hundreds of other steps, requiring frequent movement of wafers during production. The AMHS system, equipped with task allocation and scheduling systems, efficiently plans and dispatches tasks and routes for OHTs (Overhead Hoist Transport systems), ensuring smooth and high-speed transfer of wafers between different processes. This also means that for wafer fabs pursuing high equipment utilization rates, any failure in the AMHS could potentially lead to a complete production line shutdown.

As MeetFuture's CEO Miao Feng stated, although AMHS accounts for only about 3% of the total value of the front-end semiconductor equipment market, its impact on the efficiency and reliability of wafer fabs is nearly 100%. As a pioneer in the domestic AMHS field, MeetFuture has further enhanced the operational efficiency of AMHS systems in the complex logistics scenarios of semiconductor factories by launching its next-generation intelligent AMHS transport solution—the Tianfan SS5000 series OHT overhead hoist transport system.

Mifei Technology CEO Miao Feng (left), Mifei Technology Co-founder and CSO Ke Na (right)

At the media open day event held at MeetFuture's Shanghai Lingang headquarters, the company's senior executives, including founder and CEO Miao Feng, co-founder and CSO Ke Na, and board secretary Li Jingya, provided a detailed introduction of the new system to the attending media and outlined MeetFuture's future development plans.

As the core transportation system in the AMHS, the OHT system specializes in automated overhead suspended material transport. It utilizes elevated tracks to rapidly transport wafers or masks between process equipment and storage units (Stockers), ensuring efficient connectivity in the production flow.

The OHT (Overhead Hoist Transport) system possesses numerous key performance indicators, including speed, acceleration, repeat positioning accuracy, vibration, load capacity, vehicle compatibility, cleanliness level, particle control, and reliability. Many of these indicators are closely related to the improvement of OHT system efficiency. For example, how to achieve vibration suppression and precision maintenance under high-speed operation, how to optimize paths in complex scenarios, and how to realize efficient multi-equipment coordination and docking.

Miao Feng pointed out that to ensure the Tiansun SS5000 system achieves industry-leading efficiency and reliability, MeetFuture has focused on optimizing three critical dimensions: computing power, algorithms, and data. This has enabled breakthroughs in fully self-developed OHT technology and resulted in ten major product capability upgrades across the entire system.

At the infrastructure level, MeetFuture has independently developed a dedicated high-computing AMHS control platform. This platform adopts a fully redundant architecture, paired with a low-latency communication network and edge computing platform, providing robust support for the system's efficient and stable operation, with a reliability rate of up to 99.999%. This means that the SkySail SS5000 system experiences virtually no downtime during operation, offering a solid and reliable guarantee for the continuous production of wafer fabs.

At the algorithmic level, MeetFuture employs spatiotemporal prediction models and a system equilibrium architecture to achieve distributed deployment and cluster-based management. Leveraging the company's self-developed high-speed vibration suppression algorithm and motion control algorithm, the OHT's straight-line speed has been increased to an industry-leading 5.5m/s, with vibrations kept below 0.35G. The application of multi-stage speed and acceleration smoothing control algorithms enables the loading and unloading speeds to reach the highest level in the industry.

At the interaction level, the SkySail SS5000 system adopts a brand-new communication architecture and integrates map and interaction data. Leveraging MeetFuture's innovative spatiotemporal fusion prediction algorithm and the intelligent branch control module, combined with real-time position and motion state communication of OHTs across the entire factory based on the unified map, the system effectively avoids congestion and excessive pickup distances. The straight-through efficiency at branch points is increased by 40%, while the average delivery time (ADT) is controlled below 130 seconds.

At the system level, the SkySail SS5000 introduces MevFlex's self-developed next-generation Material Control System (MCS), enabling seamless integration with multi-brand business systems and compatibility with 100+ equipment integrations. Its graphical interface supports flexible customization. The intelligent fleet dispatching system (MSTC) supports ultra-large-scale OHT cluster management at the thousand-unit level, leveraging AI reinforcement learning to optimize task allocation and path planning. Combined with real-time computing and high-speed communication, it ensures efficient and reliable operation even for large-scale clusters. Additionally, the system achieves groundbreaking innovations in multiple areas, including the intelligent SkyEye system, full-scenario anomaly handling mechanisms, an innovative functional matrix, human-machine interaction upgrades, and a simulation verification platform.

MeetFuture its software capabilities, MeetFuture has also made improvements to the vehicle hardware, equipping the new Tianfan SS5000 system with a smarter, safer, and flatter, more lightweight vehicle body.  

In terms of intelligence, the new vehicle body features an octa-core CPU + 6TOPS NPU controller, with a self-developed embedded control platform achieving 100% localization.  

For safety, each OHT vehicle body is equipped with 18 safety sensors and ensures smooth wafer transportation through a patented shock absorption mechanism.  

Regarding compactness and lightweight design, the new vehicle body boasts an industry-leading thickness of just 895mm and is 8kg lighter than the previous generation.  

Additionally, breakthroughs have been made in core metrics such as speed, stability, reliability, and durability, aligning key technical indicators with international industry leaders while surpassing them in some critical performance benchmarks.

Although AMHS accounts for a relatively small proportion of the semiconductor equipment market in terms of value, its influence should not be underestimated.

For a long time, the AMHS market has been predominantly dominated by two companies, Murata and Daifuku. Like its domestic peers, MeetFuture has long been dedicated to this field as a follower and disruptor. However, with the launch of the Tianfan SS5000 system, MeetFuture has entered a new phase. According to reports, MeetFuture's AMHS products have been adopted by over 30 global wafer foundries and IDM companies. Moreover, it is currently the only domestic AMHS system provider in China to have completed validation for both 8-inch and 12-inch wafer fabs, and it has the highest number of full-fab delivery projects among domestic AMHS solution companies.

This time, with the delivery and application of the new generation of OHT overhead hoist transport products from MeetFuture, its surpassing and breakthroughs in core technical indicators signify its transition from a disruptor to a leader in the global industrial competition landscape. While continuously achieving technological innovations and breakthroughs, MeetFuture is also strengthening its market penetration and strategic deployment both domestically and internationally.

In terms of product reliability, in addition to the real-time operational data accumulated through the continuously expanding full-factory validation and delivery system, MeetFuture has also established a 2,000-square-meter AMHS full-factory integrated validation Demoline, the largest of its kind in China. Within this validation platform, MeetFuture has deployed a cluster of 30+ OHTs, 1,000+ meters of high and low rails, and 50+ sets of equipment interfaces, achieving high-density, full-process operations. Meanwhile, the operational status of the OHT vehicles running in the simulation validation platform, DeepSim, remains consistent with their actual performance post-deployment.

In terms of standard formulation, MeetFuture's fifth-generation overhead hoist transport (OHT) products have obtained 19 international certifications, including SEMI and CE, with multiple core parameters reaching globally leading levels. Meanwhile, the company actively participates in the development of the latest standards and has taken the lead in drafting the first AMHS-related standard, "General Technical Requirements for Overhead Hoist Transport Systems in Integrated Circuit Wafer Fabs" (T/SICA006—2024), achieving breakthroughs in technical compliance and ecosystem discourse power to overcome international barriers.

Regarding the ecological layout, Miao Feng stated that MeetFuture will leverage its dual manufacturing bases in Shanghai Lingang and Malaysia, along with its global supply chain layout, to build comprehensive domestic and localized delivery capabilities—from core components to entire factory systems. This will create differentiated competitive advantages over Japanese manufacturers in terms of delivery efficiency and service quality.