China just built the one machine the US

EUV lithography machine, the $250 million holy grail of chipmaking that only one company in the world can make.
How did they do it? By recruiting former engineers from ASML, the Dutch company that holds the monopoly. These engineers are reportedly working under fake identities in a high-security Shenzhen facility, reverse-engineering the machine using parts bought on secondary markets. Experts predicted 2035 at the earliest. The prototype was completed in early 2025.
But that’s only half the story. Two Chinese chip companies just went public this month — Moore Threads, founded by NVIDIA’s former China boss, and MetaX, built by a team of ex-AMD executives. Their stocks exploded 500% and 755% on day one as investors bet on China’s AI future.
By 2028, China plans to manufacture advanced AI chips entirely on domestic machines, designed by domestic companies. No American technology anywhere in the chain.

I spent the last month in China and I’ll cover the complete picture in my newsletter — the supply chain, the players, and what this means for AI. Link in bio.