ASML Chip Machines In Taiwan Have ‘Kill Switch’ In Event Of Chinese Invasion
May 21st, 2024Via: ZeroHedge:
The US faces one of the worst geopolitical climates since the end of World War II. As the war rages on in Eastern Europe and conflict risks broadening across the Middle East, there are mounting concerns the People’s Republic of China could invade Taiwan by the end of the decade.
If Chicoms invaded Taiwan, it would upend the global microchip supply chain. That’s because the tiny island nation off mainland China in East Asia produces more than 90% of the world’s most advanced chips. These chips are critical for powering smartphones, electric vehicles, and artificial intelligence applications.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, is responsible for Taiwan’s chip dominance. It supplies chips to Apple, Nvidia, and Qualcomm.
TSMC has factories with ASML Holding NV’s extreme ultraviolet machines, known within the industry as EUVs. These machines use high-frequency light waves to print the most advanced chips in the world.
In the event of a Chinese invasion, several sources told Bloomberg that ASML EUVs in sprawling TSMC factories have remote ‘kill switches.’
They said that with a flip of the switch, the Netherlands-based company could render the machines as large as a city bus and cost $217 million a piece, utterly useless.
