In December 2025, Reuters published an exclusive report about a major scientific and technological breakthrough in China.
2025年12月，路透社发表了一份关于中国重大科技突破的独家报道。
According to the story, Chinese scientists secretly built a prototype of a machine that could one day manufacture the most advanced computer chips in the world.
据报道，中国科学家秘密建造了一台机器原型，有朝一日可能制造出世界上最先进的计算机芯片。
These chips are essential for modern artificial intelligence (AI), powerful smartphones, and even advanced weapons systems.
这些芯片对于现代人工智能、强大的智能手机甚至先进武器系统至关重要。
This project has been compared to America's "Manhattan Project" — the large and secret wartime effort to build the first atomic bomb in World War II — because of its scale, ambition, and national importance.
由于其规模、雄心和国家级重要性，该项目被比作美国的"曼哈顿计划"——二战期间建造第一颗原子弹的大型秘密战时努力。
The machine China built is called an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine.
中国建造的机器被称为极紫外光刻机。
EUV machines are at the very heart of modern chipmaking.
EUV机器是现代芯片制造的核心。
They use beams of extremely short-wavelength light to draw tiny patterns on silicon wafers, creating the circuits that make computer chips work.
它们使用极短波长的光束在硅片上绘制微小图案，形成使计算机芯片工作的电路。
The smaller and more precise these circuits are, the faster and more powerful the chips become.
这些电路越小越精确，芯片就越快越强大。
Until now, only one company in the world — a Dutch company called ASML — has successfully made commercial EUV machines.
迄今为止，世界上只有一家公司——荷兰的ASML公司——成功制造了商用EUV机器。
These machines cost hundreds of millions of dollars each and are so complex that only a handful of countries and companies can use them.
这些机器每台价值数亿美元，非常复杂，只有少数国家和公司能够使用。
Reuters' sources say that the Chinese prototype was completed in early 2025 in a high-security laboratory in Shenzhen.
路透社的消息来源称，中国原型机于2025年初在深圳的一个高安全实验室完成。
The machine fills almost an entire factory floor and is now being tested.
这台机器几乎占据了整个工厂车间，目前正在测试中。
A team of engineers — including some former engineers from ASML — built the machine.
一个工程师团队——包括一些来自ASML的前工程师——建造了这台机器。
These engineers helped reverse-engineer the technology, meaning they studied and copied how ASML's machines work.
这些工程师帮助逆向工程技术，意味着他们研究并复制了ASML机器的工作原理。
The machine is capable of generating extreme ultraviolet light — a major technical achievement — but it has not yet produced usable chips.
这台机器能够产生极紫外光——一项重大技术成就——但尚未生产出可用的芯片。
Making chips reliably requires much more precision and testing.
可靠地制造芯片需要更高的精度和更多的测试。
China's government has set an official goal of producing working chips on this machine by 2028.
中国政府设定了官方目标，到2028年在这台机器上生产出可工作的芯片。
However, people familiar with the project told Reuters that 2030 is a more realistic timeline.
然而，熟悉该项目的人士告诉路透社，2030年是更现实的时间表。
Reaching this goal would be a major step toward China's long-term strategy of self-sufficiency in semiconductor technology — meaning China would no longer need to depend on foreign companies for the most advanced chips.
实现这一目标将是中国半导体技术自给自足长期战略的重大一步——意味着中国将不再需要依赖外国公司获取最先进的芯片。
Advanced chips are vital for many modern technologies, especially artificial intelligence.
先进芯片对许多现代技术至关重要，尤其是人工智能。
AI systems require enormous amounts of computing power, and that power comes from cutting-edge chips made using EUV lithography machines.
人工智能系统需要巨大的计算能力，而这种能力来自使用EUV光刻机制造的尖端芯片。
For many years, the United States and other Western countries have placed strict export controls on advanced chipmaking equipment.
多年来，美国和其他西方国家一直对先进芯片制造设备实施严格的出口管制。
These rules are designed to prevent China from obtaining the most advanced machines and technology.
这些规则旨在阻止中国获取最先进的机器和技术。
EUV systems, for example, have never been sold to China because of these controls.
例如，由于这些管制，EUV系统从未出售给中国。
If China succeeds in making fully functional EUV machines and chips, it could change the global balance of technological power.
如果中国成功制造出功能齐全的EUV机器和芯片，可能会改变全球技术力量的平衡。
