The Dutch company ASML, as basically the only company in the world that makes the lithography machines used to produce the most complex microchips, has again become a geopolitical pawn. The United States government is preparing to force the Netherlands to ban ASML from selling almost any chip-making machines to China, NU.nl reports.
Even if I agreed that such export controls were of significant strategic importance, I don’t think it’s worth applying extreme pressure to our allies to accomplish it. The notion that China can’t innovate becomes less true by the year.
The AI build out is an engineering disaster. China will catch up irrespective of what controls we apply to inhibit them. If we can’t out-compete them, then we lose.
It would probably me much easier to out-compete them if we weren’t actively destroying the greatest network of alliances in human history. We’re fucking morons.