For decades the most valuable technologycompany in Europe operated in the shadows. The chips manufactured by its machines, power our smartphones and AI assistants, make our coffee and drive our cars and even guide cruise missiles. In fact, roughly 90% of all chips worldwide are made with ASML’s machines. In recent years, the Dutch manufacturing company has found itself in the spotlight, at the centre of a geopolitical storm between the United States, China and Europe.

This book provides real stories about the South Korean semiconductor community. It explores the lives and careers of six influential semiconductor engineers who all studied at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) under the mentorship of Dr. Kim Choong-Ki, the most influential semiconductor professor in South Korea during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Kim’s students became known as “Kim’s Mafia” because of the important positions they went on to hold in industry, government, and academia.