Veldhoven, Netherlands – Peter Wennink, CEO of ASML, the leading supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, has downplayed worries regarding China’s DeepSeek, a rising AI chipmaker.
In a recent interview, Wennink asserted that the true threat to the AI industry comes from U.S. tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, rather than from Chinese firms. Although DeepSeek has made progress in AI chip development, Wennink noted that China’s semiconductor capabilities remain constrained by U.S. export restrictions on advanced technologies, including ASML’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.
He stressed that significant advancements in AI are being driven by companies that not only manufacture chips but also incorporate them into robust AI models and cloud services, particularly those offered by Google and Microsoft.
The dominance of U.S. companies in AI hardware and software continues to expand, with innovations like Google’s Gemini AI and Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI at the forefront. ASML’s CEO believes that these American companies are poised to define the future of AI in the next decade, leaving their Chinese counterparts far behind.