Web Desk
The Netherlands is preparing restrictions on certain chipmaking machines amid pressure from the US to clamp down on China’s access to critical semiconductor technology as the Dutch government has said it will impose export restrictions on the “most advanced” semiconductor technology, giving the first public details of the deal that The Hague and Tokyo struck with the US in January to limit sales to China.
The restrictions will include technology produced by computer chip equipment maker ASML, which is one of the most important firms in the global microchip supply chain.
ASML has reportedly said it would only affect certain models. “Although ASML has not received any additional information about the exact definition of ‘most advanced’, ASML interprets this as ‘critical immersion’,” it said in a statement. That includes its TWINSCAN NXT:2000i and later models which make high-capability chips.
It said it did not expect the move to have “material effect on our financial outlook that we have published for 2023 or for our longer-term scenario”.
Dutch trade minister Liesje Schreinemacher has reportedly written to parliament outlining the new measures, which did not specify exactly which chipmaking machines were affected.
Companies will have to apply for licenses to export this technology, her letter said. She emphasized that the “surgical” measures would only include very high-specification systems that can make the smallest, most powerful chips, including some of the deep lithography (DUV) tools made by Dutch company ASML. “Given the technological developments and geopolitical context, the [Dutch] cabinet has concluded that it is necessary for (inter) national security to expand the existing export control of specific semiconductor production equipment,” the minister wrote.
