China’s reported development of its own extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine to make advanced semiconductors for artificial intelligence and high-performance computer systems could provide a “massive” boost to the country in its tech rivalry with the United States, according to analysts.
Scientists at a high-security Shenzhen laboratory earlier this year built “what Washington has spent years trying to prevent”: a prototype EUV lithography machine, according to a Reuters report on Thursday.
It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch firm ASML, the world’s leading supplier of photolithography machines that etch circuit patterns onto silicon wafers to create chips. They reverse-engineered ASML’s EUV machine using parts from older ASML machines obtained in secondary markets, the report said, citing two people with knowledge of the project.
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“If successful, China will massively increase its geopolitical leverage on the US,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist for the Asia-Pacific at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank. “The priority for mastering EUV technology will be its use in defence.”
China’s potential breakthrough underscores how EUV machines sit at the core of the US-China tech war, and command of that technology would show that Beijing was closer to achieving its goal of semiconductor self-sufficiency years ahead of what the West had anticipated.
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“As the semiconductor dream has become a national security issue, I would not underestimate China’s ambition and its all-in approach to reverse-engineering EUV machines,” Ng said.