China has unveiled a compact extreme-ultraviolet light source capable of producing 14-nanometre chips, a development that marks one of the country’s most consequential steps toward semiconductor self-reliance. The tabletop unit, designed by a team of Chinese engineers, is far from a replacement for the mammoth, high-volume lithography machines built by global leader ASML. According to reports, China is exploring alternative pathways to reduce reliance on Western technology choke points and advance its domestic manufacturing ecosystem.
Unlike ASML’s industrial-scale EUV machines, which rely on enormous tin-droplet lasers and multi-ton collectors, the Chinese system uses a femtosecond laser fired into argon gas to generate high-harmonic EUV light. This approach removes the need for the world’s most complex optical infrastructure, resulting in a device that is dramatically smaller, cheaper and more accessible for research labs and low-volume fabrication lines. Engineers say it produces EUV bursts at power levels measured in microwatts, a fraction of the energy consumed by ASML’s flagship lithography units.
Although 14-nanometre chipmaking falls short of today’s cutting-edge nodes, it remains vital for industrial automation systems, automotive controllers, IoT devices and power-efficient electronics. Establishing domestic capacity at this tier helps China insulate critical sectors from geopolitical supply-chain disruptions that have intensified in recent years.
The announcement also carries geopolitical implications.
China has long been constrained by strict export controls designed to block access to ASML’s most advanced lithography machines. By demonstrating progress in alternative EUV generation techniques, Beijing is signalling that it aims to innovate around those restrictions rather than wait for policy shifts in Washington or Brussels.
The road to advanced, mass-production lithography remains steep. Achieving sub-7-nanometre manufacturing will require high-power EUV sources, ultra-flat mirrors, vibration-free optical systems, advanced resists and sophisticated production ecosystems that China is still developing. Scaling from a laboratory demonstration to a factory-ready platform involves engineering challenges in yield, reliability, throughput and environmental control that typically take many years to resolve.
Researchers expect the compact EUV source to play an immediate role in chip inspection, mask calibration, photonics experiments and prototyping for quantum devices. These are areas where today’s industrial tools are prohibitively expensive or oversized. The technology could also accelerate domestic innovation in high-precision optics, metrology and semiconductor testing.
Moreover, China must still build a domestic supply chain for components such as photoresists, pellicles, high-precision lenses and vacuum chambers: systems that require industrial ecosystems as complex as the chips themselves.