This is a High NA EUV lithography machine, built by the Dutch company ASML. It’s the most complex machine on earth with over 700,000 parts, it weighs as much as two Airbus A320s, and costs a cool $380 million. ASML is the sole global supplier of these machines that are critical to the manufacture of AI capable chips such as Nvidia’s Hopper and Blackwell GPUs.
This week ASML reported revenues of $9.7 billion, up 29% year-on-year, driven largely by AI-fuelled demand from chipmakers like Intel, TSMC, and Samsung. However, geopolitical tensions loom over its future, with increasing pressure from the US government to further restrict ASML’s sales to China. The Dutch government has already barred ASML from selling its most advanced EUV machines, but renewed export controls under the Trump administration could tighten restrictions even further.