TSMC has kill switches built into its EUV machines

TSMC is probably known to many as being one of the largest chipset makers in the world. Many companies source their chipsets from them, including Apple. So it is not surprising that their services are highly-desired, not just by companies, but by countries too. This is why TSMC has built kill switches into its EUV machines.

This is according to a report from Bloomberg who revealed that with the help of ASML, TSMC has built kill switches into its machines so that they can self-destruct in the event of an invasion. But who would want to invade them? According to the politicians, that would be China.

While Taiwan considers itself to be an independent country and nation, China doesn’t and instead views Taiwan to be part of their territory. There have been concerns that China could invade Taiwan, and that one of the possible reasons is to control Taiwan’s chipmaking capabilities.

Should that happen, these kill switches will render the highly-valued EUV machines useless. EUV machines are critical when it comes to making chips. Due to the sanctions against China, the US and their allies have essentially blocked them off from accessing this technology. This has greatly hindered China’s technological advancements.

We can only hope that the use of these kill switches won’t come to pass. There are greater implications involved in China invading Taiwan beyond the chipsets we are using in our smartphones and tablets.