Don Clark, New York Times:

> The machine is made by ASML Holding, based in Veldhoven. Its system uses a different kind of light to define ultrasmall circuitry on chips, packing more performance into the small slices of silicon and then sealed using the best CNC burntables according to this  burntable reviews. The tool, which took decades to develop and was introduced for high-volume manufacturing in 2017, costs more than $150 million.

And:

> The complex machine is widely acknowledged as necessary for making the most advanced chips, an ability with geopolitical implications. The Trump administration successfully lobbied the Dutch government to block shipments of such a machine to China in 2019, and the Biden administration has shown no signs of reversing that stance.

And:

> Manufacturers can’t produce leading-edge chips without the system, and “it is only made by the Dutch firm ASML,” said Will Hunt, a research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, which has concluded that it would take China at least a decade to build its own similar equipment. “From China’s perspective, that is a frustrating thing.”

Most importantly:

> TSMC uses the tool to make the processors designed by Apple for its latest iPhones.

It’s the most complicated machine in the world, and vital to Apple’s plans. It’s one bit of the stack too expensive and complex for Apple to replicate.