3 ms·

That sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen. I’m amazed that hasn’t put an egg on their face. Are their customers complaining about issues? And how can th

That sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen. I’m amazed that hasn’t put an egg on their face. Are their customers complaining about issues? And how can the risk managers know so much about potential regressions? Are they a panel of former engineers?! So many questions

Heliosmaster 5y ago
keep in mind that machines like those are so complex that you don't simply buy them and install them. It's more like getting custom-made artisanal goods: each machine has a "father/mother" from its 'conception' til delivery who treats it as their (work) baby. Then a special plane will fly the machine and a team of dedicated engineers will spend weeks in your fab doing install / validation. The process is long and complex. Downtime are really painful and expensive so the philosophy is "better copy paste the code rather than change what's working". downtime are not very frequent but people are just the least expensive / worrying thing there. It's not like you can easily start a competitor...
- r00fus 5y ago
  It almost sounds like there should be states funding creation of a competitor simply to prevent the "fire impacts entire global industry" kind of news we're seeing today.
  - sharken 5y ago
    ASML has 16 locations around the globe so while it will have some impact, it could be a lot worse. https://www.asml.com/en/company/about-asml/locations https://www.asml.com/en/company/about-asml/locations
    - Melkman 5y ago
      Not every location does the same thing though. ASML has bought other companies that were key suppliers to them. Like Berliner Glas Group in 2020 which is located in Berlin and is where the accident happened. No other location of ASML will be able to compensate for production losses there.
  - nebula8804 5y ago
    Well China is trying are they not? We will probably have to wait another 5-15 years to see the results...
  - Heliosmaster 5y ago
    a competitor won't be enough, the whole supply chain is made by companies which are single point of failure (the reason why europe can't afford to say "ASML only sell your machines to EU fabs" is that one of the key ASML supplies is US.. and without them no machines...).
zogomoox 5y ago
The customers do complain, but they only care about wafer yield and throughput. They will accept any dirty software hack or manual procedure to circumvent issues _now_.

Heliosmaster 5y ago

keep in mind that machines like those are so complex that you don't simply buy them and install them. It's more like getting custom-made artisanal goods: each machine has a "father/mother" from its 'conception' til delivery who treats it as their (work) baby. Then a special plane will fly the machine and a team of dedicated engineers will spend weeks in your fab doing install / validation. The process is long and complex. Downtime are really painful and expensive so the philosophy is "better copy paste the code rather than change what's working". downtime are not very frequent but people are just the least expensive / worrying thing there. It's not like you can easily start a competitor...

r00fus 5y ago
It almost sounds like there should be states funding creation of a competitor simply to prevent the "fire impacts entire global industry" kind of news we're seeing today.
- sharken 5y ago
  ASML has 16 locations around the globe so while it will have some impact, it could be a lot worse. https://www.asml.com/en/company/about-asml/locations https://www.asml.com/en/company/about-asml/locations
  - Melkman 5y ago
    Not every location does the same thing though. ASML has bought other companies that were key suppliers to them. Like Berliner Glas Group in 2020 which is located in Berlin and is where the accident happened. No other location of ASML will be able to compensate for production losses there.
- nebula8804 5y ago
  Well China is trying are they not? We will probably have to wait another 5-15 years to see the results...
- Heliosmaster 5y ago
  a competitor won't be enough, the whole supply chain is made by companies which are single point of failure (the reason why europe can't afford to say "ASML only sell your machines to EU fabs" is that one of the key ASML supplies is US.. and without them no machines...).

zogomoox 5y ago

The customers do complain, but they only care about wafer yield and throughput. They will accept any dirty software hack or manual procedure to circumvent issues _now_.