China Is as Close to Its Semiconductor Blueprint as the World Tried to Keep It Far
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China's secret semiconductor programme has reportedly produced a homegrown EUV lithography prototype, marking a key milestone despite years of US-led export restrictions.
By Pranjal Gupta
New Delhi, July 13: The United States used its leverage over the Dutch government to prevent the shipment of EUV systems to China. Short for Extreme Ultraviolet, EUV lithography is a crucial and complex process used to manufacture the world's most advanced microchips, or semiconductors.
There is only one company on Earth capable of designing and building EUV lithography systems: ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography) in the Netherlands, operating within the Western supply chain.
Without EUV lithography, the rapid progression of artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and modern smartphones would have hit a physical wall. And the US knew it. Fearing that China would surpass it, Washington pulled all the strings to stop Beijing from getting its hands on EUV systems.
But China did not sit idle. It started its own secret government-backed effort to build advanced semiconductor technology, similar in scale and importance to the Manhattan Project, the US's top-secret programme during World War II that developed the first atomic bomb, a report by The Times of India said.
Over the next six years, the project reached a major milestone. Engineers working at a highly secure facility in Shenzhen successfully switched on a working prototype of a homegrown EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography machine by the end of 2025.
How China Made It Possible
After the US and its allies restricted exports of advanced chipmaking equipment, Beijing had to rely on domestic research and creative ways to acquire technology and components.
Chinese companies reportedly bought older-generation chipmaking machines from secondary markets, especially DUV (Deep Ultraviolet) lithography systems made by companies such as ASML, Nikon, and Canon.
According to reports, some Chinese firms also used intermediaries and front companies to obtain spare parts, sensors, and optical components that were difficult to purchase directly because of export controls.
These older machines were then studied, dismantled, and reverse-engineered to understand how they worked. Engineers reused or adapted some of these components while developing new Chinese-made parts, the media report added.
The result was a hybrid EUV prototype, a machine that reportedly combines newly developed Chinese technology, such as its light source, with redesigned or reverse-engineered parts from older equipment.
If confirmed, this achievement is significant because it suggests China has narrowed one of the biggest technological gaps in semiconductor manufacturing despite years of Western export restrictions.
How Effective the Prototype Is
However, many details remain classified, and some claims about how the machine was built have not been independently verified. Building a working EUV machine is a major achievement, but turning it into a machine that can produce millions of advanced chips is much harder.
Experts say China has made significant progress by proving it can build the core technology. But it still needs to improve reliability, speed, specialised materials, and large-scale manufacturing before it can compete with industry leaders.
Most analysts believe commercially viable, domestically built EUV machines are unlikely before 2030.
