The Machine and the Microchip

A report from behind the front lines of the war over the world's most important technology.

A new Cold War is being fought for control over the world's most powerful technology — semiconductors, the tiny chips that power everything from iPhones to AI supercomputers to military drones. At the heart of this war is ASML, a long-obscure Dutch firm that has become Europe's most valuable technology company by building the only machines on Earth capable of manufacturing the world's most advanced semiconductor chips.

The US is fighting relentlessly to keep these machines out of Chinese hands. US-led export controls have cut China off from the technology, and despite investing billions of dollars and espionage, it has yet to build a viable alternative. Which raises an unsettling question: if China cannot buy them or build them, could it one day decide to take them?

Taiwan, an island of 23 million people that Beijing claims as its own, is the beating heart of the global semiconductor industry and home to many of these irreplaceable machines. As tensions in the Taiwan Strait continue to rise, the US, Taiwan, ASML, TSMC, and their allies are preparing for a confrontation that could trigger a major war, upend the world economy, and mark a tectonic shift in the global balance of power.

The Machine and the Microchip takes readers behind the scenes of this extraordinary struggle, from the White House and prime ministers' offices to sealed cleanrooms, private dinners, and tense negotiations across three continents. Whoever wins may well control the future.