ASML Monopoly Gives the Netherlands Hidden Leverage

The Dutch company ASML produces 100% of the extreme-ultraviolet lithography machines needed to make the most cutting-edge chips—machines costing hundreds of millions of dollars and shipped in several Boeing 747s—and China cannot make them because it is the most advanced technology in the world, giving European nations underappreciated geopolitical bargaining power; however China will likely catch up by the mid-2030s, as it has with solar cells (90% of world production) and robotics (50%).