FT: ASML's Grip on Chip Manufacturing Is Weakening
Taylor Wilson
The Financial Times' Lex column argues that ASML's control over the direction of chipmaking is weakening — a significant call given the company is the sole supplier of EUV lithography machines, the tools no advanced-chip maker can do without.
What makes ASML's monopoly so unusual?
ASML is the only company that can build EUV lithography machines — equipment that uses extreme-ultraviolet light to etch the finest circuits on a chip.
This means → any chipmaker aiming at 7 nm or below has exactly one supplier. There is no alternative.
In plain terms = ASML does not merely lead the market. It is the market — the only door on the only road.
What exactly is the FT saying?
The Lex column's core judgment: ASML's ability to dictate where chipmaking goes next is loosening.
The report discloses the conclusion but not the specific drivers — whether rival technology paths, geopolitical supply-chain shifts, or rising customer bargaining power.
This reflects a market narrative shifting from "ASML is irreplaceable, full stop" to "ASML is irreplaceable — but let's keep checking."
What needs to be verified next?
First watch-point: whether any alternative technology path — such as a competing approach to high-NA EUV — makes substantive progress.
Second watch-point: whether ASML can hold its pricing power in the next generation of lithography tools. Pricing power is the most direct proof of a monopoly.
In plain terms = "grip loosening" is, for now, a judgment — not a fact. What matters next is whether this only door genuinely faces a new competitor, or whether it is just the crowd outside knocking louder.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.