China’s imports of Dutch lithography machines have surged this year, with the first seven months already surpassing ASML Holding’s previous forecast for 2023 sales to China, according to a new report, as Chinese firms stock up on the equipment ahead of new export curbs.
From January to July, Chinese imports of Dutch-made lithography machines, nearly all from chip equipment giant ASML, grew 64.8 per cent year on year to US$2.58 billion, Chinese semiconductor industry consultancy JW Insights said in a report published on Friday, citing China customs data.
In January, ASML projected that its sales to China this year would remain steady at about 2.2 billion euros (US$2.36 billion), or 14 per cent of its total annual revenue.
In July, China imported US$626 million worth of lithography machines from the Netherlands, nearly eight times larger than the same month last year, according to the report.
ASML has a near monopoly on the world’s most advanced lithography machines, which are required for the production of cutting-edge chips. Under US pressure, the company has cut off exports of its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems to China.
This is a big deal. ASML is one of the most bleeding edge companies that almost no one has ever heard of. Their equipment should be kept out of Red China as much as possible.
ASML (Netherlands) and TSMC (Taiwan) may be the two most important companies in the global electronics supply chain.
China is certainly looking to bolster their own competition in this space. But that hasn’t happened yet. I’m sure the CCP is very concerned about this regulation. If they’re not, they should be.
With the kind of long-term thinking that China tends to do, I have little doubt that they know they need to develop their own tech. By limiting their access now, that would probably keep Chinaa decade or maybe even two behind the bleeding edge tech that ASML or TSMC are producing. And I tell you right now that if a war ever did break out between China and Taiwan, gaining access to TSMC would be one of the mainland China’s prime targets to take over.
Why?
Because they make the equipment that make the chips that EVERYTHING in our modern world runs on. I’m only slightly exaggerating that statement. If you are tech savvy and understand the microscopic scale that chips have moved to, well ASML and only like one other company (TSMC) are making the equipment to be able to allow these ever-smaller processes even possible.
Yeah, but why is it bad to have more manufacturers of chips?
Are we going to play the “nothing wrong with China” angle here?
No, I’m playing the “I’d love to get cheap hardware thanks to increased competition in the market” angle. You, on the other hand, are playing the “CHINA BAD” angle.
Because China is bad. This is not an argument.
Yeah it’s an opinion