Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

by Chris Miller

Consider, for example, what it would take to replicate one of ASML’s EUV machines, which have taken nearly three decades to develop and commercialize. EUV machines have multiple components that, on their own, constitute epically complex engineering challenges. Replicating just the laser in an EUV system requires perfectly identifying and assembling 457,329 parts. A single defect could cause debilitating delays or reliability problems. No doubt the Chinese government has deployed some of its best spies to study ASML’s production processes. However, even if they’ve already hacked into the relevant systems and downloaded design specs, machinery this complex can’t simply be copied and pasted like a stolen file. Even if a spy were to gain access to specialized information, they’d need a PhD in optics or lasers to understand the science—and even still, they’d lack the three decades of experience accumulated by the engineers who’ve developed EUV.