oh yes 100% - this is designed to cripple China here. It might well do that. The point is that there is no rational action from China that would look like 'reta

oh yes 100% - this is designed to cripple China here. It might well do that. The point is that there is no rational action from China that would look like 'retaliation'. The best and only option for the PRC is to develop a domestic competitor, rather than say, cut off rare earth refining. Furthermore, the reason why there hasn't been a competitor to ASML until now is not only technical but also economical - but now they are effectively out of the China market, these sanctions operate like protectionism from the other side.