industrial infrastructure

Oct 12

China's steel slowdown threatens Australian iron ore exports

China's demand for raw iron ore is contracting as the country shifts toward domestic green steel production and prioritizes carbon reduction over volume. Australian miners face margin compression and market share loss unless they can compete on lower-carbon ore grades, which requires costly infrastructure investment that many haven't made. The partnerships forming around green iron production are already bypassing traditional ore suppliers, reordering the supply chain rather than cycling through a temporary commodity downturn.

theme-connected semiconductor manufacturing chip production industrial infrastructure

May 13

Why ASML Controls the Future of Computing

Source: Works in Progress

ASML's monopoly on extreme ultraviolet lithography machines means it controls the technological bottleneck for every advanced semiconductor in existence—from AI chips to smartphone processors to military systems. The company's dominance wasn't inevitable; it required decades of incremental engineering, massive R&D investment that no competitor could match, and deliberate choices by governments and customers to consolidate around its technology. This concentration creates a single point of failure for global computing infrastructure, making ASML's supply chain vulnerabilities a national security concern that shapes geopolitical power dynamics between the U.S., Europe, and China.