> Modern lithography technology (and in general high-end semiconductor production) is complicated enough that neither US nor China may catch up in reasonable time
I suppose that much of the tech is already in the scientific literature, and the "only" problem left is putting the pieces together.
That is indeed the only problem, and it is a hard problem.
ASML people like to describe it as "a bit like having robot controlled helicopters tie a rope around a skyscraper in a heavy storm, while not crashing nor pulling the skyscraper over" iirc.
This is because at nanoscale, every vibration is a huge movement, and even the flattest surface is mountainous. An ASML machine is basically little more than tons of little sensors and control mechanisms to detect all these vibrations and surface shapes and to adjust the light beam positioning accordingly.
Because of this, nearly the entire company (several thousand people R&D staff) is focused on "putting the pieces together". Eg they do comparatively little deep research. It's all engineering.
There is a reason TSMC is the only fab working on <='7nm' class lithography. It is hard. It also requires massive amounts of capital expenditure. And that's the case when the critical equipment is bought from a different company that's again, in a league of its own.
So even if the 'only' problem is putting the pieces together, that doesn't mean it is even possible. Look at it another way-- same thing can be said about Nuclear Fusion :D
Intel can’t do it. The leader of chip fans for near half a century failed to deliver on this generation of lithography. That’s the level of difficulty we’re talking about.
Neither have any fab operations, what makes you think they could make a dent? Mind you don’t have to just make chips. You can’t make inferior chips and brand them a certain way. You need to be an actual market leader at the cutting edge of fab technology, otherwise Apple devices will not be competitive.
I suppose that much of the tech is already in the scientific literature, and the "only" problem left is putting the pieces together.