Mystery of December 1, 2018 – China’s Plan

(ASML, EUV Semiconductor, Huawei, U.S. – China Trade War, Donald Trump vs. Xi Jinping, and Thousand Talents Plans)

What really happened on December 1, 2018? On what seemed like an ordinary day, a series of events rocked the global stage. A critical EUV machine headed for China was destroyed in a mysterious fire, Huawei’s CFO was arrested in Canada, and a Stanford professor—linked to China’s ambitious Thousand Talents Plan—died under strange circumstances. Coincidence, or something more? Let’s dive into the chain of events that reshaped the U.S.-China tech war and left the world questioning the connections.

1. China needs one vital piece of equipment to achieve its goal of becoming self-sufficient in semiconductor manufacturing.

2. That equipment is the Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) lithography machine.

3. Semiconductor manufacturing involves eight steps—like wafer production, oxidation, lithography, etching, doping, deposition, packaging and Testing—but lithography is the most important.

4. Lithography is the process of using light to etch circuits onto silicon wafers, essentially creating the chip.

5. This process alone consumes 60% of the total production time and 35% of the costs.

6. Lithography requires specialized equipment to etch circuits onto wafers using light.

7. This specialized machine is the EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet).

8. Since EUV machines create extremely tiny circuits, it takes advanced technology and precision to build them.

9. As of now, only one company in the world—ASML—can produce these machines.

10. ASML is based in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

11. The company was founded in 1984 as a joint venture between Philips and ASM International, and now produces around 50 EUV machines annually.

12. In November 2018, amid the U.S.-China trade war, then-President Trump pressured ASML to halt the export of advanced EUV machines to China.

13. However, China’s SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) had already placed an order in May 2018 and was scheduled to receive an EUV machine in January 2019.

14. But on December 1, 2018, a fire broke out at an ASML partner’s factory where the EUV machine was nearly finished.

15. Although the fire was relatively small, it affected about 2,000 square feet of the facility.

16. Unfortunately, the fire completely destroyed the almost completed EUV system that was supposed to be delivered to SMIC.

17. Normally, when a machine is destroyed by accident, the company rebuilds it and fulfills the order.

18. However, following the fire, ASML declared that it would no longer supply EUV machines to China

19. This applied not only to new orders but also to the machine that had been destroyed in the fire.

20. December 1, 2018, the day of the fire, was full of ‘strange coincidences.‘

21. Each event is factual on its own, but when combined, they fueled various conspiracy theories.

22. On the exact same day, Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou—daughter of the company’s founder—was arrested in Canada.

23. At the same time, another significant event occurred: Stanford University professor Zhang Shoucheng was found dead from an apparent suicide​. ​(The Stanford Daily)​

24. Zhang was involved in China’s Thousand Talents Plan (千人计划, Qiān rén jìhuà), an initiative to recruit top scientists from around the world​.

25. This plan was China’s effort to bring Chinese scientists working abroad back to the mainland. Zhang was a key figure in this effort.

26. The plan originated under Deng Xiaoping, who aimed to send Chinese students abroad and bring back 100 leading experts each year.

27. The success of this program led China to expand its scope.

28. From 2009 to 2018, the Thousand Talents Plan sought to bring over 1,000 experts back to China.

29. By 2018, China had successfully recruited 2,629 individuals through this initiative.

30. Following the success of the Thousand Talents Plan, China expanded it into the Three Thousand Talents Plan (三千人计划, San Qian Ren Jihua) around 2011.

31. This expansion targeted 2,000 Chinese scientists under 55 and another 1,000 foreign experts.

32. By 2018, more than 7,000 top-tier scientists had returned to China through these talent programs.

33. Zhang Shoucheng, a leading figure in the Thousand Talents Plan, made groundbreaking contributions to theoretical physics and was considered a Nobel Prize contender​(Wikipedia).

34. Zhang’s academic journey was remarkable—he was largely self-taught and entered Fudan University’s Physics Department at the age of 15 ​(GIS Reports).

35. The Physics Department of Fudan University, where Zhang studied, was under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Security, China’s intelligence agency.

36. Zhang later ran Danhua Capital, a venture capital firm that the U.S. viewed as a conduit for transferring advanced American technologies to China​

37. Zhang and Meng Wanzhou were both scheduled o meet for dinner in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 1, 2018.

38. Meng was arrested while leaving for Argentina, and on the same day, Zhang committed suicide that same day ‘due to depression.’

39. Yet, one final strange ‘coincidence’ took place on December 1, 2018.

40. The G20 summit was being held in Buenos Aires, where Meng and Zhang were supposed to meet.

41. On that day, Meng was detained, Zhang died, and the EUV system destined for SMIC was destroyed in a fire—all as the G20 bilateral talks were underway.

42. At the G20 summit, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump were meeting to discuss the U.S.-China trade war.

43. Looking at the timeline, after the ASML fire, Meng Wanzhou was arrested, Zhang Shoucheng died, and then Trump and Xi had their meeting in the afternoon.

44. No agreement was reached at the summit, which meant that China was unable to secure any ‘state-of-the-art’ EUV systems for producing semiconductors smaller than 5 nanometers.

45. December 1, 2018, became the day China’s ambitions for semiconductor dominance were blocked by the U.S.

46. Recent reports reveal that many scientists involved in the ‘Three’ Thousand Talents Plan have leaked critical technologies.

47. The Thousand Talents Plan initially targeted Chinese scientists, but the Three Thousand Talents Plan expanded to include foreign experts as well.

48. These scientists were working in fields like medical sciences and biotechnology (44%), applied sciences (22%), computer engineering (8%), and aerospace engineering (6%).

49. The compensation for foreign scientists recruited under the Three Thousand Talents Plan was substantial.

50. Each expert received 1 million yuan ($150,000) in subsidies, 5 million yuan ($750,000) in research funds, housing, and benefits for their families.

51. The support was even more generous for key scientists, with additional benefits for spouses, even if the scientists were unmarried.

52. Recent investigations confirm that 150 U.S. scientists have been recruited under this program.

53. These scientists specialize in fields like quantum computing, AI, topology, autonomous driving, drug development, and semiconductors.

54. Some of these scientists have received prestigious honors, such as the National Medal of Science, while others are ranked among the top 2% globally.

57. When scientists move to China, sensitive technologies follow.

58. In January 2020, Charles Lieber, the former chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry Department, was charged for failing to disclose his involvement in China’s Thousand Talents Plan, where he allegedly received substantial funding to conduct research at Wuhan University of Technology.

59. MIT professor Gang Chen came under scrutiny for not fully disclosing his connections to Chinese institutions, including offers from talent recruitment programs, although he turned down proposals that involved sharing sensitive research.

60. Zaosong Zheng, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, was arrested in December 2019 for attempting to smuggle 21 vials of biological research to China. He had previously been involved in talent recruitment efforts but was charged with stealing proprietary information.

61. In August 2019, a professor from a U.S. university was questioned by federal agents after accepting a position with the Thousand Talents Plan but had not yet started working, indicating increasing scrutiny of such affiliations.

AlphaZen Comment

December 1, 2018, wasn’t just another day—it was a rollercoaster of high-stakes drama that felt straight out of a political thriller. An EUV machine bound for China goes up in flames, Huawei’s CFO gets arrested, and a Stanford professor mysteriously dies—all within hours.

Coincidence? Maybe. But it sure feels like the universe was sending China’s semiconductor ambitions a very strong “not today.” Whether it was bad luck or something more calculated, this day threw a wrench in China’s plans for tech dominance, while also giving the U.S.-China trade war an unexpected twist. And in a world where technology and power are so closely intertwined, one day like this can change everything.