The United States is engaged in an economic and national security arms race with China. Superiority in technology, especially in the artificial intelligence complex, is a critical battleground.

A handful of companies possess technologies that could help determine which country wins this contest. Nvidia, which holds a near monopoly in accelerated computing semiconductors, is one of them. But there is another technology leader that arguably represents an even more essential asset in the battle with China. ASML, headquartered in the Netherlands, traditionally a close U.S. ally, has a monopoly on manufacturing machines essential to fabricating the world’s most advanced semiconductors. This includes the chips that form the foundation of the artificial intelligence revolution.