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Many Washington lawmakers, including President Joe Biden, are interested in Chinese trends in computer chips and underlying technologies. In the midst of this, it is reported that the huge machine produced by ASML, a Dutch manufacturing company, is becoming an important decision material for politicians.
What ASML is producing is a device for photolithography in which microcircuits are formed on a chip using various types of light such as EUV. ASML photolithography equipment was developed over a period of decades in cooperation with the United States, Germany, and Japan, and commercial models were completed only in 2017, and mass production lines of Samsung Electronics, TSMC, Intel, and IBM were introduced. The equipment would require 40 shipping containers, 20 trucks and three Boeing 747s, shipping under the customer at $150 million each.
The Trump administration has succeeded in proposing to the Dutch government not to launch ASML photolithography equipment in China in 2019. The Biden administration shows no signs of changing this stance. Congress is debating whether more than $50 billion should be budgeted to reduce reliance on foreign chip makers. The federal government, particularly the Department of Defense, is concerned that the US semiconductor industry will depend on Taiwan’s TSMC, which is geographically close to mainland China.
Will Hunt, a research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), said that manufacturing advanced chips requires photolithography devices, which are only available at ASML. He said that it would take 10 years, and said that from the Chinese point of view, this would be resentful.
A study conducted in 2021 by the Boston Consulting Group and the Semiconductor Industry Association found that at least $1 trillion is required to build a chip supply chain that is self-sufficient, and accordingly, the price of chips and products using them also rises. If China develops equipment independently from ASML, it will face a very difficult battle.
In March 2021, the US AI National Security Council submitted a final report proposing to restrict the export of ASML products to China in addition to the Biden regime, Congress, and photolithography equipment. Meanwhile, policy experts argue that because China already uses ASML equipment, banning additional sales will have little strategic advantage and will only harm ASML profits. ASML itself also makes similar arguments with policy experts. Related information can be found here.
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