• photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    It was only a matter of time before the Chinese started ramping up their own semiconductor capabilities. With all the inevitable industrial espionage involved, I wonder if the west really has that much of a head start in chip design.

    • iopq@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Design? No

      Fabs? The advantage is insurmountable as long as the US keeps preventing ASML from exporting EUV to China

      • laylawashere44@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        Making a lithography machine that’s on par with ASML is just an engineering challenge. One that’s been solved once already by ASML, whose to say it can’t be solved again by someone else, especially if they can copy bits of the design.

        • iopq@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It took them almost 20 years to make EUV machines that do it at scale. Canon and Nikon gave up on it.

          They also have many suppliers like Zeiss that may not be allowed to export to China, but I’m not sure about which ones are and which ones aren’t

          • laylawashere44@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            1 year ago

            Things can be done a lot quickly if you are given an unlimited budget. Consider how quickly NASA got from nothing to landing on the moon, vs how long it is taking now with their much more limited budget.

            • iopq@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yes, but it was the “next thing” since research started in like the 1980s

              It’s actually harder to do than landing on the moon.

      • sndrtj@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        Yeah fuck that. As a Dutch citizen it should be up to our government to decide whether we let ASML export. But no, it’s got to be the Americans.