[nine_k]

To start a competing company, you'll need billions, and an idea of a market niche.

There are about two companies like ASML in the whole world, and there are maybe a dozen consumers of their machines, companies like TSMC or Samsung. ASML is in an effective monopoly position.

It's much like asking if you can open a competing company to build nuclear submarines. Technically you likely can.

[Cthulhu_]

And the accumulated knowledge of decades of lithography from hundreds, if not thousands of people.

That said, it's not impossible; SpaceX came out of left field and within a decade became one of the most prominent space rocket companies, they managed to find rocket scientists and engineers.

[ethbr0]

* came out of left field ... with the support of NASA contracts and knowledge sharing.

Which isn't in any way to take away from the pioneering things that SpaceX engineers have done (and the way they've done them!). But is to say they definitely had help in getting over the "high-capital-investment industry" starting bump.