The U.S. government is really worried about China’s ambitions when it comes to making microchips. But so far – China has NOT gotten its hands on a very important machine sold by just ONE company.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes over 90% of the smallest and most sophisticated chips in the world. Their semiconductor chips power everything from fridges to F-35 fighter jets.
But even those chips rely on one piece of equipment made by a singular company: AMSL. That’s right. TSMC cannot make its chips without a $150 million dollar machine from a Dutch company called ASML.
ASML’s high-end equipment prints the tiny features that form the basis of TSMC’s microchips. Microchips are made by building up billions of tiny transistors. An ASML machine patterns the finest lines on the microchips using a method called lithography.
And ASML is the only company in the world that makes the machine need to print advanced microchips. Analysts believe it would take China at least 10 years to produce systems rivaling ASML. WATCH: