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With U.S. efforts to counter American origin technologies from being used against its national security interests having reshaped the global dynamic of the semiconductor industry, a report from Bloomberg, which surfaced earlier today, shared that officials from ASML and TSMC might be able to disable advanced chip manufacturing machines in case of hostilities in Taiwan. The two firms and others contacted by the publication refused, ignored or were unavailable to answer requests for comment.
ASML has been prohibited by U.S. sanctions from shipping its most advanced chip manufacturing machines to China. While other countries, such as Japan, play important roles in the semiconductor supply chain and manufacture advanced equipment like lenses, a full EUV scanner is only made by ASML. The sanctions, aimed at preventing military use of dual use technologies, have also failed to assuage concerns about the presence of scanners with TSMC in Taiwan.
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TSMC's stature in the global semiconductor industry requires the firm to have access to all the latest chip manufacturing tools. This role has grown due to the ongoing increase in the demand for enterprise computing products, including those that power up artificial intelligence systems from big ticket firms.
Naturally, apart from Intel, TSMC is one of the largest users of advanced EUV chip manufacturing machines in the world. The Taiwanese fab accounts for more than half of the world's installed EUV base, despite the fact that only Intel has access to the leading edge EUV tech called high NA EUV.
Since ASML is prohibited from supplying China with these advanced machines, industry watchers have often wondered about the fate of the latest chip manufacturing tools in case of hostilities in the region.
Bloomberg's four sources, divided into two groups, believe that ASML representatives have assured the U.S. government officials about the ability to disable the EUV machines at will and that the American end has aired concerns about the equipment's safety in case of a Chinese escalation.
Today's report comes after a change of government in Taiwan. TSMC is Taiwan's biggest company, and the fab has had to work closely with the government to ensure a steady supply of electricity and other resources, such as water, to its chip manufacturing facilities. These facilities, due to the EUV machines, are able to mass produce chips as small as 3 nanometers and provide them to customers in consumer technology and other industries.
Tensions in the South China Sea have picked up following the election of a President Beijing views as hostile. Consequently, the Chinese administration's rhetoric for Taiwanese reunification has grown louder, right at the time when the U.S. government is pumping billions of dollars to ensure an American chip manufacturing lead.
Trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies have spread across agriculture, aviation and technology. Within the technology domain, they have seen the U.S. manage to constrain China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to nodes older than 5-nanometer. While older chip manufacturing machines, non EUV or DUV, can make chips that conform to new specifications such as 5 nanometers, the process is often tedious and sees manufacturers struggle to achieve a high throughput.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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