China's record-breaking investment in chipmaking machinery underscores its strategic response to Western export controls, aiming to secure its semiconductor production capabilities and maintain its competitive edge in the global market. This move could reshape the semiconductor industry, intensifyin
The reality is that China has the best track record in the world in producing large ambitious projects like this in record time. Given that this is seen as a national security concern for China, there is absolutely no doubt that China will be able to catch up, and likely outpace western chip production even at the high end. The fact that China already started producing 5nm chips in just under two years that people thought would take a decade to do is a clear indication of how rapidly China is moving.
Meanwhile, ASML machinery isn’t magic, and much of complexity in it comes from the fact that it needs to be compact for export. Chinese approach is just to build a large particle accelerator which will produce higher yields incidentally https://whychinese.co.za/2023/10/12/chinese-scientists-turn-to-giant-particle-accelerator-for-chip-manufacture/
It’s also worth noting that the chip war has been a total failure on the US side so far. Last I checked neither Samsung nor TSMC actually got their foundries operational in the US. This was accurately predicted when the US put out the CHIPS act https://compactmag.com/article/fighting-a-chip-war-on-the-cheap