June 28, 2026
Chip Happens
Can China build its own ASML?
China wants its own chip-printing giant, and commenters are already calling it inevitable
TLDR: China’s top chipmaker is trying to make advanced chips using only Chinese-made equipment, but the hardest machine to replace is still the one that does the tiny pattern printing. Commenters are loudly split between "obviously they’ll crack it" and broader drama about bans, copying fears, and China’s rise.
China’s biggest chipmaker, SMIC, is trying to pull off a massive industrial flex: not just making advanced chips, but making them with homegrown machines instead of relying on foreign gear. That’s the big dream sitting behind the latest reporting from Nikkei Asia, and while China has made real progress replacing some equipment, one giant boss battle remains: the ultra-complicated machines that "print" patterns onto chips. Right now, that club is basically ruled by Europe’s ASML, with Japan’s Canon and Nikon also in the game.
But in the comments? The mood is less "if" and more "duh, of course they can." One camp is practically rolling its eyes at the question, pointing to moon landings, huge state resources, and China’s track record of going from "cheap knockoff" stereotypes to dominating industries like phones and electric cars. One commenter’s vibe was basically: you laughed at their cars once, look who’s laughing now.
The spiciest side plot is the geopolitics. One hot take says it’s "crazy" the U.S. had to block sales, because surely the sellers should’ve been worried about reverse engineering already. Others are even more bullish, arguing China may not just copy ASML but build something better for its own system. And yes, there was some classic price-war cheering too, with fans celebrating China as the player most likely to make expensive tech cheaper. In other words: this isn’t just a manufacturing story anymore — it’s a comments-section chest-thumping contest with a side of global tech drama.
Key Points
- •SMIC is increasing production of 14-nm and 7-nm chips in Beijing despite having operated under U.S. blacklisting for five years.
- •China’s chipmakers are pursuing a fully domestic semiconductor equipment supply chain, a goal explicitly included in Beijing’s 14th Five-Year Plan.
- •Chinese manufacturers including SMIC, CXMT and YMTC have replaced some foreign tools in etching, measurement, deposition and chemical polishing with domestic alternatives.
- •Lithography remains the biggest gap in China’s equipment self-sufficiency effort, with most production lines still relying on older ASML or Nikon machines.
- •ASML remains the global leader in DUV and EUV lithography and is preparing its $350 million high-NA EUV system for field trials with TSMC and Intel.