How China built its ‘Manhattan Project’ to rival the West in AI chips
a day ago
- #technology
- #semiconductors
- #China
- Chinese scientists have built a prototype machine capable of producing cutting-edge semiconductor chips in a high-security Shenzhen laboratory.
- The prototype, completed in early 2025, fills nearly an entire factory floor and is currently undergoing testing.
- The machine was reverse-engineered by former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML, replicating ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology.
- EUV machines are central to a technological Cold War, using extreme ultraviolet light to etch ultra-thin circuits onto silicon wafers.
- The West currently monopolizes the capability to produce these advanced chips, which are crucial for AI, smartphones, and military applications.