Lead
"The Netherlands can't help China, can't help."
This is the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte recently said that ASML cannot continue to provide lithography equipment for China, and only ASML in the world currently produces lithography machines, so there is a statement like Duke University McAnn that is very entangled and does not know what to do.
Now, ASML has reversed the wheel.
What made ASML make this decision?
Why is ASML the only company that manufactures lithography machines?
And how should China respond to this problem?
Chips as a sanction tool for Chinese tech companies.
In May, U.S. President Joe Biden said during a visit to a chip manufacturing plant that "these chips are a reflection of American creativity and innovation."
In his speech, Biden also said that "the United States is a global leader in chip manufacturing and innovation" and also declared that he would "develop a leading position in the American technology industry."
As we all know, the dominant American companies in the global semiconductor industry are not only Intel, NVIDIA and other old companies, in fact, several semiconductor giants led by American companies have raised their control over the global chip market to a new level after years of development.
But none of this is what American companies have done on their own, it is precisely the Trump regime that has forced the Dutch company ASML to stop selling the lithography equipment it needs to China, which has also interrupted China's task of importing chips and frustrated China's technology industry.
Therefore, the United States decided to use chips as a tool to suppress and sanction Chinese technology companies, and the industrial chain required to export to China to the United States has been useless, so it has tested the export of high-precision chip manufacturing industry.
With the development of the global semiconductor industry, all countries are making great investment, and this statement has also aroused the vigilance of the United States to the global chip industry, and only ASML can produce lithography machines in the world.
ASML can only be exported with the approval of the U.S. government, which means that if ASML refuses to export, then the production of chips will be cut off.
At present, only ASML produces lithography machines, and ASML produces wafer engraving, which is the torso of the chip, which can be described as the "living" lifeblood of the contemporary world, but in this regard, the US government can be said to have done its homework.
In 2003, ASML wanted to make a joint venture with China to produce a lithography machine, but it was in December last year that ASML held a meeting to delay the agreement between China and the Netherlands.
When ASML launched the first 6nm EUV lithography machine in 2005 and the second 6nm EUV lithography machine in 2018, its unique and "forbidden edge" technology also made mainland companies interested in the 56nm lithography machine it produced.
After that, Continental developed an 80nm extreme ultraviolet lithography machine and sold the manufacturing technology of the 6nm lithography machine to a mainland company, but this move was blocked by the Ministry of Health in the Netherlands at the time.
This is also reminiscent of the actions of the United States in the past, the United States has never lacked excuses to sanction other countries, but when the stone fell on its own feet, it began to denounce the practices of other countries, in a vain attempt to use its economic strength to achieve the goal of everything going according to their wishes.
However, he did not expect that the economic growth of the mainland shocked the world, and at the same time became a fixed stone for the United States.
There is a lag in ASML's export of lithography machines to China.
According to the Foreign Investment Law, foreign companies must first go through approval if they want to enter the Chinese market for investment, and the same is true for ASML, and in this process, the Chinese government can also require ASML to transfer technology through approval.
In order to ensure that mainland companies can also use ASML's technology, but in this process, ASML not only needs to negotiate with the Chinese government, but also needs to obtain permission from the US government.
Because of the uncertainty in the application, ASML did not dare to export to China easily, so there was a dispute between the two governments about whether the lithography machine needs to be exported, and at the same time, with the conflict between the countries, its own game has become more and more complicated.
As a private company, ASML's export issues must also be subject to the interests of its enterprises, especially when ASML's exemption expires in 2024, and this decision is terminated, which also means that this decision will deal a major blow to the company's performance.
Therefore, in this scenario, it is inevitable for ASML to expand the campus in order to reasonably meet the challenges that 2024 will bring.
Previously, it was reported that on ASML's lithography machine, Huawei's chips also use ASML's lithography machine, but this statement is not accurate.
Because in the semiconductor industry, in order to produce chips with a fineness of the nanometer level, the lithography machine is an indispensable tool, and in this fine process, it is necessary to construct the circuit and chip through the lithography machine.
As early as the 70s of the 20th century, Continental began to develop and manufacture lithography machines, and at that time, Continental was able to manufacture lithography machines with a line width of 10 microns.
In 1987, Continental had already developed the technology to replicate the lithography machine, and Continental's Lianchuang, Universal Technology and other companies were all developed during this period based on the lithography machine research and development base of Exxon University in the Netherlands.
How ridiculous, now China even has to import this technology from the United States, but with the progress of science and technology, in 1998, Hongli Company has developed and produced a 20nm line width lithography machine, which is also the first company in China that can produce a 20nm lithography machine.
However, this technology is also based on the cutting-edge technology platform of the Netherlands, but this also makes the continent's lithography machine technology still lag with the world's top level.
At the same time, the progress of the mainland in lithography machine technology is also based on antiviral technology, due to the domestic epidemic, the mainland has no way to introduce foreign technology, so it can only carry out independent research and development and production.
How China should respond to the challenge.
However, even if the autonomous use of lithography machines is still in the hands of others, this can be improved through technical cooperation with international companies.
However, in recent years, the technology industry has been led by the nose by the United States, and the US government has set a ban on the sale of China's chip industry, which is undoubtedly unsustainable for the mainland's technology industry.
This also poses a great threat to Chinese technology companies like Huawei, facing an existential crisis.
Therefore, in order to solve this problem, in addition to finding technical measures, the mainland itself must not be weak in the development of the international science and technology industry.
This point should be returned to Academician Wang Zhongmin's research and development of the first lithography machine, he said: "China's development of the lithography machine is suffering, and the obstacle is also suffering, without this road, we don't have to take the road of suffering."
At the same time, how can science and technology play an important role in the development of the economy in the development process of the semiconductor field, and if this problem is solved, the mainland will be able to make a major breakthrough in the next few years.
As the so-called "clever woman is difficult to cook without rice", the mainland is subject to people in the parts and components, and will also encounter severe obstacles in the transistor, some advanced equipment has caused a lot of harm to the human body, but in fact these are not problems, the root of the problem lies in the research in the field of semiconductors, the mainland has accumulated a large amount of data and knowledge, especially in electronic materials, although there is still a large gap in the development of materials, but this has made the mainland's science and technology industry out of a feasible path.
If it is said that in the future, the research and development of silicon nanowires and electronic materials is expected to become a benchmark for mainland science and technology to go international.
epilogue
After all, for the time being, only by relying on one's own development can we move forward, and if we rely on the support of others, it will be tantamount to a castle in the air, and the mainland cannot take the road of self-sustaining R&D and innovation on this point.
Of course, in the development of the mainland's science and technology industry, we must still adhere to independent research and development, and at the same time, we cannot ignore the efficiency of the current research and development.
At the same time, what are the choices that ASML has made in its decision as a private company?
ASML announced the decision to expand the campus to increase production to meet the challenges of 2024, a decision that takes into account both cost and time.
At the same time, it also reflects confidence in future market demand.
With the development of the global technology industry, the problems encountered by ASML also reflect the current situation of the entire industry, after all, in the face of the new crown epidemic and the changes in the world, international cooperation and independent research and development are equally important, which is also the key for technology companies in various countries to cope with the challenges.
On the one hand, adhere to the policy of independent research and development, and on the other hand, actively carry out scientific research cooperation, after all, scientific research personnel know no borders.