How AI works

The one machine no one can copy

The smallest chip patterns are printed by one machine. One company builds it, in the Netherlands. In 15 minutes, you see how it works inside, and why its builder does not make chips.

Lithography: Printing a tiny map of a chip on a wafer, using light. Like a photo print, but far smaller.
EUV: Extreme ultraviolet. A light with a very short wave, only 13.5 nanometers long. A human hair is about 50,000 nanometers wide.
Plasma: A gas so hot that it glows. Lightning is a plasma.

This lesson builds on From sand to AI chip in 6 steps. There, step 3 was "print the pattern". Here you open the machine.

01 · The question

The friend who works in a chip factory

A friend works at a chip company. At a barbecue, she says: "Our most important tool costs more than a big hotel. And only one company on Earth sells it."

You ask: "Why can no one else build one? And why does that company not make chips itself?"

After this lesson, you can answer both.

First, a quick guess.

02 · Your guess

How much does one of the newest chip-printing machines cost?

A wrong guess costs nothing. Guessing first helps you remember the answer. Pick one to open the next part of the lesson.

03 · Inside the machine

How the machine makes light, and prints with it

Press Next step to follow the light from start to end. The machine is called an EUV scanner.

1Drop the tin

2Hit it twice

3Catch the light

4Vacuum and mirrors

5Print the map

6Join it all

04 · Remember

One company builds the machine. Its own buyers helped pay for it.

ASML sells to the rivals that make chips. So it must stay out of the chip business. If it made chips, it would compete with its own buyers.

Makers of EUV machines1

Tin drops each second50,000

Newest machine, euros~350M

In the kitchen

Imagine one company builds the only oven that can bake a special bread. Every big bakery buys it. If that company opened its own bakery, its buyers would worry. Would the best ovens go to the rival?

In the league

A referee does not also play for a team. Everyone trusts the whistle because the referee has no side.

Why does ASML not make chips?

Its buyers are rivals. TSMC, Samsung and Intel all buy its machines. A machine maker that also sold chips would compete with all three.
The same logic as TSMC. TSMC promises never to compete with its customers. ASML sits one step earlier in the chain and follows the same idea. This is a way to read the facts, not a quote from ASML.
Two different jobs. Building a scanner and running a chip factory are two different skills. Each one is hard enough alone.

What happened in 2012?

ASML asked its biggest buyers to share the cost of the next machine. Intel, TSMC and Samsung agreed. Together they promised 1.38 billion euros for research over five years. They also bought a 23% share of ASML for 3.85 billion euros. The goal was to bring EUV to factories sooner. ASML sent the cash from the share sale back to its other shareholders.

05 · Two checks

Pass two checks to finish

A miss is fine. Each miss gives you a new case.

Check 1 of 2 · Why is it built this way?

06 · Tell a friend

Your one-minute answer at the barbecue

Say it in your own words. Here is a version you can use:

The one-minute version

"Chips need a tiny map printed on them. For the smallest maps, one machine does it: the EUV scanner from ASML in the Netherlands. A laser from Germany hits tiny drops of tin 50,000 times a second. The tin glows and gives off a special light. Mirrors from Germany guide the light, because glass blocks it. The newest machine costs about 350 million euros. ASML does not make chips. Its buyers are chip makers, and it must not compete with them. In 2012, three of those buyers even paid to speed up the machine."

ASML	Netherlands. Builds the EUV scanner. The only maker.
TRUMPF	Germany. Builds the laser.
Zeiss	Germany. Builds the mirrors and optics.
EUV	Light with a 13.5 nanometer wave.
Reticle	The mask that holds the chip's map.

Try it today: ask an AI "Why does EUV light need a vacuum?" Then compare its answer with step 4 of this lesson.

This lesson explains how the industry works. It is not advice to buy or sell any stock.

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