ASML and TSM Face Uncertain Future in Event of Chinese Assault on Taiwan

If China invades Taiwan, chip machine maker ASML is rumoured to have the ability to disable its equipment remotely in TSMC’s fabrication facilities. In ASML’s EUV lithography systems, the most extensive client is TSMC, which uses extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths to manufacture the highest quality semiconductors.

It is possible to use these chips for many different applications, from smartphones and car electronics to (most importantly) artificial intelligence and military applications, among others. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and ASML Holding are rumoured to have devised a way to disable the world’s most sophisticated chipmaking machines if China invades Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter. 

There have been some private concerns by officials of the US government about the consequences if Chinese aggression escalates into an attack against the island responsible for producing the vast majority of the world’s advanced semiconductors, two of the sources cited said, speaking anonymously. When the Dutch government met ASML about the threat, the company assured officials that they would be able to disable the machines remotely. 

Two more sources stated that ASML had assured officials that it could disable the machines remotely.

A report from Bloomberg on Tuesday quoted people familiar with the matter saying that two of the world’s largest chipmakers coul

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