This is a community dedicated to the hardware aspect of technology, from PC parts, to gadgets, to servers, to industrial control equipment, to semiconductors.
Rules:
Well they're money printers and the tech is insane, not surprised they machines are expensive
I'm currently reading Chip Wars and according to the author there were other companies trying to build EUV machines. It seems a lot of them shelved the plans after having ploughed a lot of money into research. ASML stayed the course and bet big on it paying off, which it looks like it has.
Welcome to monopoly.
Then other businesses should step up
That's simply not going to happen for a good few years. Most of the high-end processors that you're buying comes from an ASML machine from various foundries around the world, that makes use of EUV. Other lithography machines made by companies like Canon and Nikon are still stuck in DUV. Heard that Huawei has started to step in this game, and has also enjoyed a breakthrough.
Of course, so in this case it's a monopoly because it has a great product.
The Huawei phone is using DUV, so it's on par with older products in performance. Like a 2019 iPhone, maybe
According to the article, these new tools might cost between $300 million and $400 million. How much does a low-NA machine cost?
A great product is "too expensive", but also sold out to its capacities.
Sounds like free market is experiencing free market.