Asia-Pacific
Netherlands pulls licence for China-bound chips, but who benefits?
Chip industry giant ASML isn’t allowed to ship equipment to China after Washington tightened the restrictions.
Headline
Chip industry giant ASML isn’t allowed to ship equipment to China after Washington tightened the restrictions.
Context
On January 1, 2024, chip industry giant ASML said the Netherlands government had revoked a shipment licence for NXT: 2050i and NXT: 2100i lithography systems – including its chip exports to China. In response, China urged Netherlands to “respect market principles” after the ban. Through citing sources familiar with the matter, on Monday, Bloomberg said ASML was requested by the U.S. Biden administration to cancel some of its orders for lithography machines to China weeks before the announcement of the ban.
Evidence
Pending intelligence enrichment.
Analysis
The company said, the government didn’t allow it to convey equipment to China by the confiscation of export licence, following pressure from the U.S. government aimed at crippling China’s ability to make its own chips, according to the latest reports from Reuters . In 2023, the U.S. announced that Washington had the right to restrict the export of ASML’s “ Twinscan NXT1930Di” machine if it contained any United States components. Shortly thereafter, several Dutch parliamentarians questioned the Netherlands’ Trade Minister about the correctness of the U.S. rule unilaterally restricting the export of another type of ASML’s chip-making machine to China. ‘‘In recent discussions with the U.S. government, ASML has obtained further clarification of the scope and impact of the U.S. export control regulations,” the company said in a statement . ‘‘ ASML is fully committed to comply with all applicable laws and regulations including export control legislation in the countries in which we operate.’’
Key Points
- Leading chip company ASML said the Dutch government had banned it shipping some of its equipment to China through revoking export licence.
- China asked Netherlands to “respect market principles”.
- The U.S. is considered to be the driving force behind the ban.
Actions
Pending intelligence enrichment.
