![]() In its final report in March, the National Security Council on Artificial Intelligence chaired by ex- Google CEO Eric Schmidt indeed advised the U.S. “I believe the current administration has gone too far.” Two-generation advantage “His administration is increasing pressure on ASML to also ban the export of these DUV immersion machines to China,” he explained. Not only are these machines not listed among dual-use goods subject to controls under the international Wassenaar Arrangement, Beijing can already purchase them from Nikon of Japan, ASML’s closest competitor. efforts to block the sale of argon fluoride (ArF) immersion technology, which uses liquid solutions as a lens to focus electromagnetic light from the deep UV spectrum. The administration may seek to expand export controls beyond state-of-the-art lithography machines that harness the properties of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation to include older equipment as well. Yet Hoogeveen worries President President Joe Biden won’t stop there. For that reason, Hoogeveen favors targeted restrictions on the sale of EUV tech in the name of national security: “These technologies are geopolitical assets we shouldn’t simply hand over to anyone just to make a quick buck.” It appears as if ASML has a virtual monopoly on the technology until 2025, when presumably rivals will catch up. argues the technology must not be allowed to end up in Beijing’s hands because the Chinese could then use the machines to build “dual use” circuitry to gain a military advantage as well as civilian purposes. Yet Washington continues to pressure the Dutch government to prevent ASML selling to China, precisely at a time when microelectronics are in short supply. That makes ASML’s machines not just a hit with investors but a strategic necessity for the world’s industrial superpowers.Ĭhina, for example, desperately wants to buy the semiconductor manufacturing equipment to reduce its dependence on imported chipsets and narrow the technological arms race. Only with the aid of the company’s groundbreaking EUV photolithography can Intel, Samsung, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company etch the world’s smallest transistors, so-called 5 nanometer nodes, onto silicon wafers. Ever since, it’s had a complete monopoly on the very machines needed to make the world’s most sophisticated microprocessors like the M1 used in Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops and iPad Pro tablets. By the start of 2019, the Dutch tech firm pioneered a revolutionary method to manufacture chips known as EUV.
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