00:00The U.S. government is reallyÂ
worried about China’s ambitions Â
00:03when it comes to making microchips.
00:05But so far - China has NOT gotten its hands on aÂ
very important machine sold by just ONE company.
00:13In a previous video, I talked aboutÂ
how Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Â
00:16Company makes over 90% of the smallestÂ
and most sophisticated chips in the world.
00:22Their semiconductor chips power everythingÂ
from fridges to F-35 fighter jets. Â
00:26In other words, they make civilization function.
00:29Well, people who watched theÂ
video pointed out that TSMCÂ Â
00:33cannot make their chips without oneÂ
piece of equipment. And it’s true.
00:38TSMC cannot make its chips without a $150 millionÂ
dollar machine from a Dutch company called ASML.
00:46ASML’s high-end equipment prints the tinyÂ
features that form the basis of TSMC’s microchips.
00:52Microchips are made by buildingÂ
up billions of tiny transistors.
00:57An ASML machine patterns the finest lines on theÂ
microchips using a method called lithography.
01:03The projection system shrinks andÂ
focuses the pattern onto a silicon wafer.
01:08After the pattern is printed, it movesÂ
the wafer slightly and makes another copy Â
01:12on the wafer. They are built up layerÂ
by layer, like layering a cake except Â
01:17MUCH more complicated because this involvesÂ
up to 100 layers with nanometer precision.
01:23The more transistors can be added to aÂ
chip, the more powerful the chip becomes.
01:28ASML is the only company in the world that makesÂ
the machine need to print advanced microchips.
01:35It manufactures the equipment at itsÂ
factories in Veldhoven, Netherlands.
01:39The company was founded in 1984 as a jointÂ
venture between the electronics giant Philips Â
01:44and the Dutch chip-machineÂ
manufacturer ASM International.
01:48ASML is now an independent company.
01:51It has a monopoly on EUV lithography, Â
01:54“extreme ultraviolet light” - an extremely shortÂ
wavelength of light that can create even tinier Â
02:00circuitry than is possible with conventionalÂ
lithography which relies on Deep UV. (DUV)
02:06EUV light doesn’t occur naturallyÂ
on earth – only in outer space.
02:10So ASML must generate it somehow.
02:14To generate the light, a CO2 laser fires twoÂ
laser pulses at a drop of tin, vaporizing it. The Â
02:20tin vapor becomes plasma which emits EUV light.Â
This happens at a rate of 50,000 times a second!
02:28The machines are assembled in clean roomsÂ
containing zero dust. These rooms are 10,000Â Â
02:34times cleaner than outside air. Even the smallestÂ
speck of dust that ends up on a wafer can ruin it.
02:40The company’s decision to switch to EUV lightÂ
in the nineties gave it an astounding advantage.
02:46It cost billions of dollars to makeÂ
the radical switch in light sources, Â
02:50but the effort has paid off big time.
02:53ASML is now valued at around $193 billion dollars.
02:58The EUV equipment is sold to the largestÂ
chipmakers in the world: TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.
03:05Every one of its machines has over 100,000 parts.
03:09They’re shipped in 40 freight containers,Â
20 trucks, and three Boeing 747s.
03:15Like the rest of the world, Â
03:17China also relies on ASML machines for ChineseÂ
companies that are producing semiconductor chips.
03:22But in 2019, the Trump administrationÂ
successfully lobbied the Dutch government Â
03:27to block shipments of ASML’s most sophisticated machines to China,
03:31and the Biden administration has shownÂ
no signs of reversing that policy.
03:36However, ASML is NOT restricted fromÂ
exporting slightly older technology to China.
03:43ASML’s older deep ultraviolet (DUV) systemsÂ
are a generation behind the EUV ones but still, Â
03:49the most common way to make less advanced chips.
03:52In 2021, 16% of ASML’s sales went to China, Â
03:56around $2.2 billion dollars’ worth. TheÂ
company expects similar figures for 2022.
04:03Washington has been trying to hamperÂ
China’s chip-making progress in many ways.
04:07When President Biden signed the CHIPS ActÂ
in August, it included a caveat that if TSMCÂ Â
04:13or other chip companies want billions in U.S.Â
subsidies for building new plants in America, Â
04:18they have to agree not to sellÂ
their most advanced chips to China.
04:23Washington has also been pushing ASML even to stop Â
04:26shipping its less sophisticatedÂ
chip-making machines to China.
04:30This could deal a seriousÂ
blow to Chinese company SMICÂ Â
04:34which has reportedly been makingÂ
7-nanometer semiconductor chips Â
04:38that are only a generation behind the 5-nanometerÂ
ones manufactured by TSMC and Samsung.
04:45If Washington gets its way, even ASML’s olderÂ
lithography equipment could be banned from China.
04:52China could start producing its own lithographyÂ
systems if it wants to become self-reliant.
04:58However, analysts believe itÂ
would take China at least a decade Â
05:01to build its own equipmentÂ
that could rival ASML’s.
05:05ASML’s CEO Peter Wennink believes itÂ
will be difficult but not impossible.
05:11He says: "I am not saying it cannot be done,Â
because I know the laws of physics are the Â
05:16same in China as they are here. NeverÂ
say never. They will certainly try."
05:21Sophisticated machines like a lithographyÂ
system cannot be built without brilliant Â
05:26engineers who have mastered STEM.
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