---
title: 'America is Coming for Europe''s Most Important Machine'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=cnsKl2JouOc'
video_id: 'cnsKl2JouOc'
date: 2026-08-04
duration_sec: 391
---

# America is Coming for Europe's Most Important Machine

> Source: [America is Coming for Europe's Most Important Machine](https://youtube.com/watch?v=cnsKl2JouOc)

## Summary

The video discusses the global race to break ASML's monopoly on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which are essential for producing advanced microchips. It highlights the technical challenges of EUV technology and introduces several competitors, including American companies Substrate and xLight, Japan's KEK and Canon, and China's efforts to copy ASML's technology.

### Key Points

- **ASML's Monopoly** [00:00] — ASML, a Dutch company, is the sole producer of EUV lithography machines used by major chipmakers like TSMC, Samsung, and Intel. These machines use extreme ultraviolet light to print tiny structures on silicon wafers.
- **EUV Technology** [00:51] — EUV light has a very short wavelength (about 13 nanometers), allowing for smaller details and more powerful chips. ASML's newest machines aim for 8-nanometer structures.
- **Technical Challenges** [01:07] — Producing EUV light requires ripping electrons off atoms, done by hitting tin droplets with a laser. The light is absorbed by air and glass, so it must be used in a vacuum with special mirrors. The precision and power requirements make the machines cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
- **Substrate's Approach** [02:15] — American company Substrate plans to use a particle accelerator to create a free electron laser, aiming for soft X-ray wavelengths about a tenth of ASML's, potentially producing structures 10 times smaller. They have only shown a prototype chip with 12-nanometer structures.
- **Other Competitors** [03:25] — xLight (US) is developing a compact free electron laser with 20 beams. Japan's KEK has a program for a free-electron laser, and Canon is pursuing nanoimprint lithography, which uses molds instead of light. China is reportedly trying to copy ASML's machine.
- **Future Outlook** [04:40] — ASML's monopoly is likely to erode in the coming years, but it won't collapse immediately. The video ends with a sponsor segment for Ground News.

### Conclusion

ASML's dominance in EUV lithography is being challenged by multiple international efforts, but the technology is so complex that a breakthrough is not imminent. The video suggests that while ASML's monopoly will erode, it will take time.

## Transcript

America is coming for one of Europe’s most  important technologies. No, I don’t mean the fax   machine. I mean the machines that make the most  advanced computer microchips. There is today only  
one company that produces them in the Netherlands.  But soon that will no longer be the case. The Dutch company ASML produces a special  type of machine that is used to produce  
microchips. Almost all major chip  producers use it, TSMC, Samsung,   Intel --- they all rely on this special  machine. ASML has figured out how to use  
light in the extreme ultraviolet to print tiny  structures on the silicon wafers that microchips   are made of. The process is called lithography,  or in this case extreme ultraviolet lithography.
The extreme ultraviolet matters  because it has a very short wavelength,   for ASML’s machines it’s just about  thirteen nanometres. And shorter   wavelength means one can print smaller  details, so, more powerful chips. ASML’s  
newest machines aim for even smaller  structures at about eight nanometres. Ok, but what’s so difficult about ultraviolet  light that no one else has managed to do this? and such short wavelengths are below the  transition frequencies of outer electron  
shells. To get to these wavelengths you need  to rip a lot of electrons off the atom. ASML   does that by hitting tiny droplets of tin  with a laser. The next issue is then to  
work with the light. Extreme ultraviolet light is  absorbed by air and glass and standard mirrors.   So they had to work in a vacuum and had to invent  special mirrors to direct the light. And then   they have to do all this to utmost precision  without the power supply of an entire city. 
This is why ASML’s machines cost hundreds of  millions of dollars a pop. It is also why no   one else sells anything remotely similar. And of  course the rest of the world doesn’t like that… The boldest attempt to break ASMS’s monopoly  comes from an American company called Substrate.  
They say they want to accelerate electrons  with a particle accelerator. The way one   does that is to accelerate the electron  in one direction and then add a modulating   field in the transverse direction.  The electron moves on a wavy line,  
basically. An electron moving that  way will emit highly energetic light,   which is what Substrate wants to work  with. It’s called a free electron laser. They are aiming at radiation  in the soft X ray range,  
so that‘s a wavelength about a tenth  of what ASML uses, and consequently   the structures that they might be able to  produce could be about a factor 10 smaller. Substrate hasn’t shared technical details  but the accelerators you need for this are  
typically a few tens of metres long, depending  on how good the magnets are. ASML’s machines   are something like 10 metres long and have  the size and shape of a bus. Substrates are  
likely going to be larger. They say on  their website that they direct the light   with “perfectly polished optics” which is about  as vague as it gets. So far the only thing they   have produced is an image of a prototype  chip with about 12 nanometre structures.
There are other newcomers to the game. The  American company xLight for example has   the more modest goal of trying to find  an alternative for ASML’s light source   with a similar technology as substrate, a  free electron laser. But they specialize  
in making that laser small and efficient and  they want to get about 20 beams out of one   laser. It isn’t really new technology, but it’s  a specialized adaptation that could go places.  And it’s not only America. KEK, Japan’s High  Energy Accelerator Research Organization,  
has a programme for a free-electron laser  for future lithography. Japan also has   a very different approach from Canon called  nanoimprint. Instead of creating the pattern   on the nanochip with light, they create a mold  and then reuse it. Canon says its machine can  
make lines fourteen nanometres wide today, and  may reach ten nanometres with better templates. Then there is China, doing it the Chinese  way by trying to copy the ASML machine.  
They reportedly have a prototype that  can generate the right kind of light,   So no, ASML is not about to collapse tomorrow. But   it’s very likely that its monopoly  will erode in the coming years.
In any case, if Europe loses this advantage,  it can always fall back on its other great   technological achievement: making  websites ask you about cookies. If you ever get the feeling that the news  is more about storytelling than facts,  
Ground News is worth a look. Ground News is  a news platform for people who value facts.   They collect and summarize news which has been  published all over the world. They collect all  
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