Reverse-engineering ASML isn't going great for China, engineers allegedly broke the machine trying

[Alfonso Maruccia]

In context: ASML Holding is the Dutch company that develops the world's most advanced chip manufacturing machines. Many are attempting to replicate ASML's technology, but, if the rumors coming from China are to be believed, they still have a long way to go.

An unnamed Chinese entity attempted to study the inner workings of some older ASML Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, but the effort ultimately failed. According to local sources cited by security editor Brandon Weichert, Chinese technicians are desperate to understand how ASML machines operate, aiming to build their own chip manufacturing capabilities.

The technicians weren't just interested in mass-producing these older devices, Weichert noted in a recent opinion piece. Their ultimate goal is to replicate ASML's "magic" with local machines and eventually develop more advanced lithography systems to accelerate China's position in the global race for chip supremacy and AI technology.

During the disassembly process, the Chinese team reportedly broke the DUV machine and had to call ASML for support. Dutch engineers traveled to China to fix the device and quickly discovered that the local staff had attempted to take the machine apart and reassemble it on their own.

Weichert speculates that the incident highlights just how damaging US tariffs and export restrictions have been to China's chipmaking capabilities. ASML produces the most advanced lithography machines available to any foundry company, a position that is likely to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.

Despite being based in Europe, ASML has become a significant factor in the US-China trade war that began under Trump's administration. While attempts to steal engineering secrets from the company are not new, disassembling a DUV machine to study its inner workings represents a far more extreme and risky effort.

Before the implementation of Trump-era tariffs, China invested heavily in acquiring older chipmaking equipment. Now, with no legal path to import cutting-edge devices, the country is reportedly resorting to drastic measures – such as breaking fully functional machines – to understand their technology.

Weichert traces China's decades-long journey toward economic prominence, highlighting how companies and entrepreneurs have historically acquired or copied innovations from more technologically advanced countries. Today, these same actors are attempting to replicate the high-end manufacturing capabilities of Western nations to expand profits while advancing China's strategic position in the global chip and AI industries.

Permalink to story:

Reverse-engineering ASML isn't going great for China, engineers allegedly broke the machine trying

 

[PXAbstraction]

"Hi, support? Yeah, the machine's broken."

"So, they don't normally break like this. You guys didn't try anything with it did you?"

"..."

"Did you?"

"...Sorry, I think I have a medical emergency coming on."

 

[Kirby1]

They will get there eventually, it would be foolish to think otherwise.

 

[yRaz]

They will get there eventually, it would be foolish to think otherwise.

I seriously wonder about that. TSMC and Intel basically just use their machines, not make them. If Intel is having trouble just using them, I don't know how China will be able to make an EUV machine made in those tolerances. I don't doubt they'll have any trouble build a 14 or 10nm machine, but getting to 2 and 3 NM, that's a challenge.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Brandon Weichert is a known panic-and anxiety author that writes inflammatory headlines over nothingburgers. It's really disappointing that Techspot not only decided that this rumor (and it is a rumor, the only source for ANY of this is "a source". That source could be your drunk uncle down the block.) was worth writing an article on, but didnt even bother to link to the original article. FFS WCCFtech managed that!

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/b...ne-while-trying-to-reverse-engineer-bw-102025

"Interestingly, a source reports that in recent months, the Chinese have been caught trying to reverse-engineer the ASML DUV lithography machine."

That's it. That's LITERALLY all this entire article is built on, that one sentence, with no source. That ignores the premise of the article is flawed: that breaking the machine was bad, a failure, a sign of incompetence. That's not how reverse engineering works. when reverse engineering technology, breaking it frequently occurs. Especially when you are taking apart machines that you are not intended to take apart. What slips under the radar is that ASML actually sent people to China to attempt to fix the machine. I wonder how much knowledge the Chinese engineers were able to glean from this?

Hell...perhaps they broke it on purpose, so they could call out ASML and watch how they fix it? Of course you'd have to think that the Chinese are people, and not just some backwards straw hat wearing third world country; to imagine that idea. Oh yeah, and the fact the chinese are kinda...known for doing stuff like this? They are VERY good at espionage and are known to insert agents into educational institutions and industry globally.

99% of the article is spent rambling on the history China has with setting up domestic lithography, and then stating "the US cant sit still".

Wow. Such insight. A real Nostradamus we have here.

This same author is well known for.....sperging about war topics that repeat talking points belched out from social media

https://nationalinterest.org/profile/brandon-j-weichert?filter[paged]=3

He claims the movie "black hawk down" was a warning that the US should form its international policy around

https://www.americaoutloud.news/black-hawk-down-wasnt-a-blunder-it-was-a-warning/

He also wrote the book "A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine". Keep in mind, this man has no verifiable military background, and appears to have taken most of his information from social media posts.

You can also take a look at his personal website. Yep, DEFINETLY doesnt come across as someone spewing out as many inflammatory headlines for clocks as possible....

THE WEICHERT REPORT

World News Done Right™

theweichertreport.wordpress.com

This guy has all the journalistic qualifications of Gonzalo Lira (which if you've never heard of him, WHOA BOY are you in for a treat) or Hassan Piker. This guy is a "security editor". Meaning, he writes articles based on recent headlines concerning security. He himself isnt well versed in security, IT, national, or otherwise. He's a "security editor" the same way a subway employee is a "sandwich artist".

EDIT: Forgot this one: he said the political assassination of Charlie Kirk "evokes the blood-soaked legacy of 1861-1865, when 600,000 Americans perished—more than in both world wars combined."

Toward a second American Civil War?

A civil war triggered by Kirk’s assassination would forsake Gettysburg's grand clashes for urban ambushes, swarming cyberattacks, and sniper fire in purple...

www.americaoutloud.news

Yeah, somehow, I dont think that basing the headline "reverse engineering ASML isnt going well for China" on this guys work is such a great idea.....The WCCFtech community ripped their writers a new one for publishing a near identical article that even they considered hot flaming garbage....I expect a lot better out of Techspot.

I seriously wonder about that. TSMC and Intel basically just use their machines, not make them. If Intel is having trouble just using them, I don't know how China will be able to make an EUV machine made in those tolerances. I don't doubt they'll have any trouble build a 14 or 10nm machine, but getting to 2 and 3 NM, that's a challenge.

That knowledge isn't exclusive to ASML. If china can reverse engineer and build their own 14 or 10nm process nodes, they can build and learn from that to build 7,5, then later 2 or 3 nm tech.

We said the same thing about flash memory pre Red Lung, now YTMC is making competitive NAND for the chinese marekt. They're now pushing some of the densest NAND available.

The Chinese are a very industrious people. They've figured out how to bypass digital DRM on chips, bypass nvidia's hardware restrictions, and so on. Their domestic chip manufacturing companies have been reporting record profit and record investment from the Chinese government, and ASML themselves have admitted that China is a very real threat to the future of their industry, and that continued investment risks them driving western manufacturers into the ground.

https://asia.nikkei.com/business/te...l-chip-challenge-can-china-build-its-own-asml

 

[exothermic]

You're laughing, the Chinese are trying to steal the tech and you're laughing.

 

[p51d007]

If I am correct, wasn't GUNPOWDER one of the last things Chinese actually created? Most everything since 1949, when the CCP took over, has been stolen/reverse engineered.

 

[toooooot]

The people who cannot grasp the scale of theft by Chinese are delusional ones. If this country is renamed to Theft, it will be a better name for it.

 

[pnntmp]

The export of any advanced equipment to China should be banned. Same for spare parts and service.

The Chinese stealing everything can no longer be tolerated.

 

[Hysc84]

China is going to crack this tech in times, just a matter of years

 

[Liranan]

Source: Trust me bro, I would never lie, just ignore all the thousands of lies I've told before.

 

[BobDolesGhost]

The people who cannot grasp the scale of theft by Chinese are delusional ones. If this country is renamed to Theft, it will be a better name for it.

Man that J35 aircraft looks familiar... Hmm..
Man that J36 sure looks like our NGAD fighter as well.. Geez, what is going on here?!?

I've read many stories of businesses with a product, moving production to China for cost savings, and then find in short order - knock offs of their products for sale, deeply undercut in price. This particular scenario happens again, and again, and again, and again, and on and on. Its insane that anyone / any business would keep taking this path.

 

[J Oelschl]

I certainly hope that when the ASML engineer realized that they had disassembled the machine and broke it that he packed up his gear and left telling them that they voided the warranty and violated the international DMCA equivalent.

 

[Tantor]

Chinese engineers:

"Boss, we took the entire ASML machine apart and put it back together. We have a pretty good idea how it works. Except for this little box here. It's sealed and we might break it if we try to disassemble it. What should we do?"

Chinese boss:

"Go ahead and take it apart. Run your tests, figure it out. Then drop it on the floor and stomp on it a few times. Make it look like you don't know what you're doing. Then call the Dutch support team. When they come to fix it, we'll have the tech, psychology and AI teams analyse their response. We'll pick up some extra insight that way."

"But boss, they'll think we're stupid fumblefingers."

"That's what we want them to think. Act dumb so they won't get suspicious and refuse to sell us their stuff."

"They'll charge us a million dollars to fix it."

"Just give them a ten pack of RTX 5090's. Oh wait, better make it a couple grams of Rare Earths, I promised the 5090's to the South African League of Legends team.

 

[Vulcanproject]

They didn't take out the extended warranty

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

Never say never. China got around the sanctions. Although many don't like China they still have friends or Allies in the World. The best way to think is there will always someone smarter than you.