The chips were down again in the US on Monday, when the SOX slipped back near the July 17 lows amid a bevy of worries, including reports that China’s making progress on the ultraviolet lithography front.
Most immediately, that’s a concern for ASML, which has a de facto monopoly on DUV equipment. More broadly, it speaks to the notion that export restrictions won’t ultimately suffice to prevent China catching up in the AI race. Indeed, such controls could be counterproductive.
The “offending” report came from The Information, which said Beijing’s now “mass-producing homegrown DUV tools.” The linked article doesn’t name the Chinese company manufacturing the equipment, but assuming the reporting’s accurate, it marks a “great leap forward” (sorry) in China’s efforts to achieve chip self-reliance.
As the figure shows, shares of ASML didn’t love it. The stock plunged the most in a year.
There’s some nuance here. This is DUV equipment not, apparently, EUV machines, ASML’s most advanced tools. Regardless, any progress on China’s part towards homegrown DUV capability counts as a big deal.
That the DUV news came on the same day China IPO’d the world’s fourth-largest DRAM-maker in a raucous debut only served to accentuate the “Red Scare” optics, so to speak.
Should not be a surprise , the Chinese leadership is dominated by folks with engineering or science education background.
The USA, well it’s 40% legal background.
Do we need to ask which of these admins will win out in the technical competition of this century ?
Prompted me to ask Google about Xi Jinping, he holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and a Doctor of Law degree, and worked for 6 years as a manual labourer during the cultural revolution.
Now let’s compare to Trump … Oh we are f”‘”ked
“mass-producing homegrown DUV tools“ you cant mass produce DUV lol
China got to, maybe, kinda, 2017 DUV. Not nothing, but not a big deal