A secret laboratory in China has quietly assembled a prototype extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system and is now testing it stealthily, which means that the country may be close to replicating the most advanced technology that currently exists on Earth, reports Reuters.
The tool was reportedly developed by reverse engineering existing scanners from ASML and is said to be on-track to make prototype chips in 2028. If the information is correct, then Chinese scientists have made numerous breakthroughs across multiple disciplines in just a few years instead of decades, a scenario that appears extremely unlikely. Further analysis of the report indicates that China's laboratory is far from completing the tool, meaning that the country is years away from making chips using EUV lithography.
