“Could #Dutch know-how have just tilted the global balance of power again? So the Trump administration alleges. Since 2019 #USA (America) has blocked the export to #China of the extreme #ultraviolet, or #euv, #lithography machines that make the world’s most advanced #semiconductors. These machines, whose creations power the most capable artificial-intelligence models, are made only by #ASML, a Dutch company. In recent weeks, however, America’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has thrown the company into crisis by sharing with it his concerns that one of these machines may have found its way to China.”

#AI / ArtificialIntelligence / #engineering <https://www.economist.com/china/2026/07/05/has-china-obtained-the-worlds-most-important-machine> (paywall) / <https://archive.md/q4zgB>