Nikon weaponizes lower prices to break ASML's lithography monopoly

rbanffy 25 points 4 comments May 30, 2026
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Discussion Highlights (3 comments)

alephnerd

A lot of people forget that Canon and Nikon were the original leaders in the lithography space, and as a result the US DoE and CFTC decided to back ASML and Tokyo Electron back in the late 1990s and early 2000s to work on what became EUV Lithography. It's a major reason why I find chest-thumping about ASML and sOveReigNity to be tiresome - ASML is tied to both the US and Netherlands (not the rest of the EU - NL is deeply protective of their IP) by the hip, and various portions of its IP are partially firewalled across American and Taiwanese JVs. It's the same with Zeiss as well if you've ever visited their R&D labs in the Bay.

jackfischer

"Weaponizes" is such odd word choice. I didn't catch anything in the article that sounded remotely nefarious.

dlahoda

smallest transistor known to internet printed by silicon arf tech is 7nm(which reported as limit of light used). while euv did 2nm(and progressing on smaller). so companies target different markets?

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