The names that come to mind when people speak about the AI boom are typically NVIDIA, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google or Tesla.

But there's another company even further down the supply chain.

A company that doesn't make ChatGPT.

Does not create AI models.

It doesn't even produce the chips that are driving many of today's AI revolution.

However, it is important to note that without it, the world's most sophisticated chips would be very hard to manufacture.

That company is ASML.

The more you know about what ASML actually does, the more interesting the race in artificial intelligence is.

The Bottleneck that became the Machine for the whole Industry

Consider the world's most advanced artificial intelligence chips.

They must get smaller, faster and more powerful.

To do so, chip manufacturers must be able to pattern very small things onto silicon wafers.

This is where lithography comes in.

And ASML has created the world's most advanced lithography machines, called EUV — extreme ultraviolet lithography machines.

The machines assist chipmakers to make some of the most sophisticated semiconductor technologies available today.

The crazy part?

It's not a machine that you can just purchase from a different website.

A machine from the advanced ASML is huge, very complex, has thousands of components and needs an incredible amount of engineering.

It is one of those technologies that makes you wonder how much of modern technology relies on products which most consumers will never see.

The AI Race Isn't Just About AI

That's an element I believe many investors and tech enthusiasts overlook.

The part that consumers will be aware of is when NVIDIA releases a more powerful AI chip.

However, there's a vast ecosystem that lies behind that chip.

Semiconductor designs exist.

There are chip manufacturers.

There are the equipment suppliers.

Specialized components are produced by companies.

In that chain is ASML somewhere.

So, it is not just an AI race as it were:

Which country has the smartest AI?

It's also:

What companies are able to build the equipment to power it?

That's a whole other ball game.

Why ASML Is So Difficult to Replace

The advantage of ASML isn't just being a good product.

Its benefits are based on decades of research, engineering experience, suppliers and technology complexities.

It's not as easy as starting a new smartphone business.

The semiconductor equipment business is a business with extremely high barriers to entry.

It will still take years of research, specialized knowledge and a large industrial base to catch up if a competitor did have billions of dollars to spend.

This is what makes ASML interesting.

It is important because not many companies can perform what it does at a high level.

Thus, when an industry is reliant on a few providers, the providers become very powerful.

The Hidden Side of the AI Boom

The part that really grabbed my attention.

If there is an AI headline that reads:

“Next generation AI chips are on the horizon.”

The first name that comes to mind is generally the name of the chip designer.

However, someone must make those chips.

A chip must undergo an amazingly complex global supply chain before it reaches your computer, phone, data center or AI server.

That said, the largest of the AI opportunities might not necessarily be the ones being discussed.

In some cases, the most interesting company is the one that's selling the tools that everyone else wishes they had.

ASML is a good example.

But There Is a Catch

Being strategically important doesn't make a company invincible.

ASML operates in a highly geopolitical industry.

Semiconductors have become a national-security issue.

Governments increasingly care about who can manufacture advanced chips, where those chips are produced and who can access the technology required to make them.

That means export restrictions, trade policies and tensions between major economies can directly affect companies in the semiconductor supply chain.

So ASML's story isn't just about technology.

It's also about geopolitics, economics and national power.

The Bigger Lesson

The ASML story made me think of a bigger story.

Frequently we pay attention to the visible aspect of technological revolutions.

The AI chatbot appears.

It is visible that we have a graphics card.

We see the robot.

It is a data center that we see.

However, each apparent innovation has a hidden infrastructure.

On other occasions, the companies constructing the infrastructure can be as significant — or even more so — as the ones all the attention is paid to.

That's why ASML should be given more attention.

Not for being a flashy consumer brand.

However, it's more than that, it's the representation of something more important:

Having a technology that the future will not be able to live without.

In fact, as AI continues to grow, the world could find itself in a race for intelligent machines not just between the companies that are creating them, but human intelligence and the intelligence of AI itself.

It's also been fought by the manufacturers developing the computers that make them possible.

The part of the AI story that most people aren't watching is that.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice.