2nm chips explainer: The race to shrink tech explained

Imagine a smartphone that lasts weeks on a single charge, a laptop that renders 4K videos in seconds, or a smartwatch that detects a health issue before you feel symptoms. These breakthroughs depend on shrinking chips to two nanometer (2nm) scale – so tiny it's measured in atoms. But behind the hype is a hidden battle over tools, trade wars, and the future of tech.

The "nanometer" in chip manufacturing no longer refers to the actual size of transistors. Instead, it's a marketing term for the process technology used to build chips. Here's why it matters: smaller nanometers mean better speed and efficiency. Companies like Apple and Intel are racing to 2nm to outpace competitors.

The invisible giant: ASML

You may have heard a lot of chip brands: Intel Core i7, Apple M4, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, to name a few.

But the companies marketing those fancy names do not always "fabricate," or build, the chips. Almost all Apple, Qualcomm and many Intel chips are manufactured in China's Taiwan, by a company named Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).

Intel and Samsung are also well-known firms that have their own chip factories, or "fabs" as many industry insiders prefer to call them.

If you dig one step deeper, you will realize that all these three chip-making giants rely on tools from the same provider – Dutch company ASML.

ASML's NXE lithography systems use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light to print electric circuits on silicon boards. This technology has been powering the world's fastest PCs and smartphones since as early as 2018.

Now Intel is testing the company's new EXE systems in the hope of reviving its chip-making business.

The global chip race

What if you cannot get an ASML machine? Look at China for the answer. Under unfair sanctions from the U.S. that blocked China's access to the latest ASML machines, China is largely stuck at older technology involving 28nm chips. With that said, many gadgets do not need the most advanced chips to function, and that's where China is trying to compete.

Japan is also trying to take their share of the chip market, with the company Rapidus importing ASML's NXE machines to build 2nm chips. Reports say Rapidus prefers to target niche chips to survive the competition.