The Dutch Company Holding the World Hostage
Deep in the Netherlands, there is a company that most people have never heard of, yet it holds more power over the future of technology than almost any other. The company is ASML, and it builds machines that are, frankly, preposterous. These are extreme ultraviolet lithography systems, costing north of $200 million a pop, that use light to print impossibly small circuits onto silicon wafers.
Without these machines, there are no advanced chips. No new iPhones, no NVIDIA AI processors, no nothing. ASML has a complete and utter monopoly on this technology. Their competitive moat isn’t just wide, it’s an ocean patrolled by battleships. As every tech giant scrambles to make chips smaller, faster, and more powerful, they all have to queue up, cap in hand, at ASML’s door. It’s a beautiful business model, if you can get it.