Overview
- Sources say the prototype was completed early in 2025 and is now undergoing tests in a high‑security facility in Shenzhen.
- Reporting attributes the effort to former ASML staff who reverse‑engineered key systems and sourced older ASML components via secondary markets, with workers using aliases to maintain secrecy.
- Beijing is targeting chip production on the machine by 2028, while outside experts cited in coverage view 2030 as more realistic.
- The multi‑year, state‑led push is described as coordinated across firms and institutes with Huawei in a central role, drawing comparisons to a domestic “Manhattan Project” for chips.
- ASML says no EUV tool has ever been sold to China and its CEO previously warned China would need many years, as chip‑related stocks including AMD, Arm and ASML fell following the reports.