Quote from: NotFuzzyWarm on April 15, 2025, 02:41:18 AM

Quote from: coinhelper on April 13, 2025, 11:33:47 PM

They have ASML (in the Netherland), that's pretty strategic. (Most of the technology used by the Taiwanese semiconductor company relies on the 3D silicone printing done by ASML).

A. It is not '3D silicone printing'. The EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) lithography process used is not '3D printing' - it is a 2D photo process used to etch patterns onto wafers made of pure Â silicon (Si) as in the element - not silicone which are materials that incorporate Si as part of their chemical makeup.

B. All that matters is ASML is a Western owned corporation - aside from not being located in Asia, where their facilities producing the EUV photo lithography stepper systems are located is pretty irrelevant. Their operations being located in Europe does not give Europe any special benefits when it comes to chip building other than lower shipping cost for the dozens of shipping containers worth of equipment needed for each EUV system.

C. It must be pointed out that over 90% of all chips used in the world do NOT require cutting edge EUV tech because they use gates that are larger than 5nm and lower where EUV is a requirement. Most range from the high double-digit nm size up to double and even triple-digit micron size. These chips are used in countless devices, eg, car electronics, remote controls, AV systems, IoT & edge-computing devices, interface chips, LED lighting, etc. Equipment for producing those sizes is very cheap and not particularly difficult to build & run. The problem is that those chips are priced as mass produced commodities (dirt cheap) and very few Western companies are interested in making them in their countries because labor costs are too high.

The details are important, but in the end those few chips that do require, or better said, generate a distinct competitivy advantage by using the smaller calibers, are the ones that do provide an advantage on many modern weapons systems and make AI cheaper and efficient.

Of course, nobody cares about those when making a washing machine - but anyone can make a washing machine, not so much the chips required for an air defence missile or other that do realy in maximum processing speed.