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Headline: China Set to Become the Sole Nation Capable of Independently Mastering EUV Lithography; China's EUV Mass Production Will Rewrite the Chip Landscape

By 2028, the global chip industry may face a finale that leaves European and American giants stunned into silence—China is set to become the only country in the world capable of independently mastering Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, shattering the decades-long monopoly myth of the Dutch company ASML. You have to remember, just three years ago, the CEO of a US photoresist giant boasted, "Even if we gave China the full set of blueprints, they couldn't build an EUV machine." Does this counter-intuitive result leave you instantly bewildered? How is this possible? How can a country that has been under a technology blockade for years capture this "crown jewel of the semiconductor industry"?

Actually, EUV lithography isn't as mystical as it sounds; let's explain it in plain terms. You can imagine it as a super-precise "nanometer-level printer." Traditional lithography machines use "ink" made of 193-nanometer Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) light, printing circuit patterns that are relatively rough and unable to meet high-end chip demands. EUV, however, uses 13.5-nanometer Extreme Ultraviolet light, effectively shrinking the "pen tip" by more than ten times, allowing for much finer circuits to be etched onto silicon wafers. This is the sole production tool for high-end chips of 7 nanometers and below. Previously, this "super printer" was monopolized by ASML, with core components imported from countries like the US, Germany, and Japan. What China set out to do was to build every single part of this "printer" itself. It’s like building an aircraft carrier out of Lego blocks—the difficulty is unimaginable—but we have truly achieved a critical breakthrough.

Even more subversive is that China's EUV R&D has not only broken the monopoly but also forged a different technological path. ASML's EUV machine weighs 180 tons and contains over 100,000 precision parts, relying on global supply chain coordination. In contrast, the prototype developed by China has optimized optical design and light source technology to simplify structural complexity while maintaining precision. This means our mass production costs could be more than 30% lower than ASML's. More critically, we have built a complete domestic supply chain—from photoresists to mirrors, everything is "Made in China." This is something even ASML cannot do; its core light source comes from the US company Cymer, and its high-precision lenses rely on German manufacturers, making it impossible for them to achieve completely independent production.

Next, let's dig into the confidence behind China's EUV mass production, see how it will completely reshuffle the global chip landscape dominated by Europe and the US, and reveal the new possibilities this technological revolution brings to global tech development.

First, let's look at some heartbreaking data: In 2022, the global EUV lithography market was 100% monopolized by ASML, and its share of the mid-to-high-end DUV market was also as high as 96.99%. European and American countries, by controlling lithography technology, firmly held the reins of the global chip industry. The US, leveraging its technological advantage, forced the Netherlands to restrict ASML from exporting EUV machines to China, attempting to "choke" China's chip industry. The most typical case is SMIC, which ordered an EUV machine for $120 million in 2018, but as of 2025, it still hasn't been successfully delivered. This has led to China's long-term dependence on imports for high-end chips, with annual import values exceeding $300 billion—higher than its oil imports. However, after news broke of major progress in China's EUV R&D, ASML's stock price plummeted 15% in three days, evaporating $130 billion in market value. Western chip giants collectively fell into a panic, which reflects their fear of the collapse of their monopoly status.