ASML Holding NV and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have ways to shut down the world’s most sophisticated chip-making machines if China invades Taiwan.
The remote shutdown applies to ASML’s line of ultraviolet machines from the Netherlands, known in the industry as EUV, for which TSMC is the largest customer.
The EUV is the size of a city bus and requires regular maintenance and upgrades. As part of this, the company could remotely force a shutdown of the system, which would act as a kill switch, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Veldhoven is the world’s only manufacturer of these machines, which sell for more than 200 million euros ($217 million) each.
TSMC Chairman Mark Liu hinted in a September interview with CNN that any invader of Taiwan would find his company’s chip-making machines broken down.
Der Friedensstifter 