Elon Musk called ASML a great company. That's the headline. A man preparing to enter an industry just discovered the one company in the world that makes it physically possible. Somebody get this guy a consulting fee.
ASML holds a monopoly on extreme ultraviolet lithography machines. These machines cost $200 million each. They're the only way to make advanced chips. Musk is now "gearing up to go big in chip manufacturing" without owning a single one. The fireside chat with CEO Christophe Fouquet was presumably Elon asking where the on-switch is located.
SpaceX is going public, which means Musk needs new ways to light investor money on fire. Rockets worked. Cars worked. Drilling tiny tunnels worked until they didn't. Social media worked until it really didn't. Now he's pivoting to semiconductors, an industry with razor-thin margins, geopolitical chaos, and a supply chain so complex it makes rocket science look like a lemonade stand.
The push into chip manufacturing comes at a time when every tech billionaire thinks they can just will themselves into hardware dominance. They cannot. ASML machines require cleanrooms more sterile than operating theaters. They need technicians who trained for years. They break if you look at them wrong. But sure, the guy who bought Twitter and renamed it a single letter will figure it out between podcast appearances.
Retail traders are already pricing in a $500 billion SpaceX valuation based on vibes and a compliment Musk gave to a Dutch company. They'll buy the IPO. They'll watch it moon for six hours. Then they'll watch Musk tweet that chip manufacturing is actually boring and he's pivoting to quantum computing instead.
Christophe Fouquet smiled politely through the whole fireside chat, knowing his machines will be fine either way because ASML doesn't have competitors and Musk doesn't have a f*cking clue what he's doing.
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