China successfully built a prototype of a locally made EUV (extreme ultraviolet) machine earlier this year, according to a Reuters report. The machine was successfully built in a high-security laboratory in Shenzhen with the help of former ASML engineers, allowing China to build its own chip industry without foreign help or interference. According to reports, even if the EUV machine is successfully built, it is not yet ready to be used to produce chips.
With this success, China may be able to produce its own technology chips as early as 2028 or at the latest 2030. After being imposed various import restrictions on chip-making equipment by the United States and its allies, China has begun a program to develop local chip technology over a six-year period.
The world's latest EUV machine is only produced by ASML and is used by TSMC's fabrication plant in Taiwan. Chinese companies such as Huawei cannot access TSMC's technology, causing Kirin chip production to stop for several years. With the help of SMIC, it was successfully restarted using DUV (deep ultraviolet) technology machines, which are a generation behind two years ago.
EUV machines are needed to produce circuits on the surface of chips with nanometer precision. Previously, ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet was quoted as saying that China would need a long time to produce its own EUV machines.
Among the tactics used to slow down China's efforts to develop its own chip industry is to prevent the country's students from studying subjects related to semiconductor chip development in the Netherlands and to cancel the visas of students taking critical subjects in the United States.