China cannot buy ASML machines. All advanced semiconductor manufacturing in China is done with stockpiled ASML machines from before the ban.

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tooltalk an hour ago | parent | next [-]

That restriction is only for the most advanced systems. According to ASML's Q3 2025 filing, 42% of all system sales went to China.

SK Hynix also has significant memory manufacturing presence in China; or about 40% of the company's entire DRAM capacity.

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phil21 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Would you really need ASML machines to do DDR5 RAM? Honest question, but I figured there was competition for the non-bleeding edge - perhaps naively so.

	▲	nish__ 36 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yes. You need 16nm or better for DDR5.

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squigz an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

As someone who knows next to nothing about this space, why can China not build their own machines? Is ASML the only company making those machines? If so, why? Is it a matter of patents, or is the knowledge required for this so specialized only they've built it up?

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bluGill 11 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

They can - if they are willing to invest a a lot of money over several years. The US got Nuclear bombs in a few years during WWII with this thinking, and China (or anyone else) could too. This problem might be harder than a bomb, but the point remains, all it takes is a willingness to invest.

Of course the problem is we don't see what would be missed by doing this investment. If you put extra people into solving this problem that means less people curing cancer or whatever. (China has a lot of people, but not unlimited)

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nish__ 33 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes. ASML is the only company making these machines. And both, they own thousands of patents and are also the only ones with the institutional knowledge required to build them anyway.

	▲	baq 11 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I thought Fermi paradox is about nukes; I increasingly think it's about chips