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Scientific and technological innovation is surging, and countries are focusing on high-tech chip manufacturing. Lithography machines play a pivotal role in this process. However, due to geopolitical considerations, the lithography machine industry has seen a striking reversal.
The Dutch giant ASML listened to the call of the United States, and as a result, it became "cannon fodder", while Japan "reaped the benefits of the fisherman", and the export volume of lithography machines to China soared by 82%. All this tells us that technological innovation needs to be open and cooperative, rather than self-appreciated.
At a time when new technologies such as smartphones, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence are springing up, chips are inseparable from their core. To produce chips, the most critical process equipment is the lithography machine. It can draw fine circuit patterns on silicon wafers, which is known as the "lifeline" of chip manufacturing.
Today, lithography machine technology is firmly controlled by a few companies, among which ASML in the Netherlands is the world's most advanced EUV lithography machine market. This makes the lithography machine a strategic commanding heights for all countries to compete for. As a major chip country, China also urgently needs advanced lithography machines to break the barriers of chip technology.
In the field of chips, there is a clear power gap between China and the United States. In order to maintain its technological superiority, the United States has resorted to all means to restrict China's access to key equipment. In 2018, ZTE was "death banned" by the U.S. Department of Commerce for violating sanctions against Iran, and fell into a life-and-death situation.
Since then, the United States has stepped up pressure on suppliers of lithography machines such as ASML in the Netherlands, requiring them to stop exporting to China. As the "lifeline" of chip manufacturing, once there is a lack of advanced lithography machines, it will be difficult for China's chip industry to make breakthroughs.
In the face of US pressure, ASML chose to back down. They refused to sell the most advanced EUV lithography machines to China, becoming the "pawns" of the United States to restrict China's scientific and technological development.
What the United States did not expect was that when it and the Netherlands joined forces to suppress China, Japan "reaped the benefits of the fisherman", and its lithography machine products became the best alternative to China.
According to data recently disclosed by the Japan Economic News, in the first quarter of this year, the export value of Japanese lithography machines to China reached 521.2 billion yen, a surge of 82% over the same period last year. This is also the highest since 2007.
China accounts for half of Japan's total exports of lithography machines. As China's demand for lithography machines continues to grow, this proportion continues to expand. China's huge market capacity is becoming a "life-saving straw" for Japanese lithography machine companies.
All this seems to be the competition between the Netherlands and Japanese lithography machine companies, but it actually stems from the competition between China and the United States in the field of chip manufacturing. After China was forced to abandon purchases from ASML, Japanese lithography machines became the best alternatives. ASML, as an oligarch in the chip manufacturing industry, has become the biggest loser.
As the world's only supplier of EUV lithography machines, ASML originally monopolized this high-end market. But once China is withdrawn, this advantage is useless. On the contrary, Japanese lithography machine companies have successfully opened up the Chinese market and obtained considerable profits.
Although China's chip market still needs to import EUV lithography machines, the source has shifted from ASML to Japan. ASML worked behind closed doors, but it turned out to be "kicked out", which is a puzzling ending.
"Stuff it, stuff it, forbid it to come out, and force it to live. Who can live forever with it?" Lithography technology needs an open environment to innovate in order to be able to grow in the long term. Restricting the proliferation of technology behind closed doors will only lead to an impasse in the end.
China's chip industry is still in its infancy, and effective international cooperation is particularly important. Restricting the supply of key equipment to China will not only fail to curb China's scientific and technological development, but will ultimately harm the interests of lithography machine manufacturers themselves.
The driving force for the progress of human civilization lies in exchange and cooperation. All countries should share scientific and technological achievements for the common benefit of mankind. It is expected that the technical barriers in the field of lithography machines will be gradually broken in the future, so that more innovative achievements can benefit mankind.
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