An staff member waits cable televisions inside a ASML Twinscan XT1000 lithography device, throughout manufacture at the ASML factory in Veldhoven, Netherlands.
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“Given the technological developments and the geopolitical context, the government has come to the conclusion that the existing export control framework for specific equipment used for the manufacture of semiconductors needs to be expanded, in the interests of national and international security,” the nation’s Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher stated in a letter to parliament Wednesday.
Although the letter does not referral China, it follows pressure from the White House, which in 2022 enforced export controls that restrict Beijing from accessing specific semiconductor chips. At the time, American authorities acknowledged that if other nations did not enforce comparable limitations, the export controls would lose efficiency gradually.
Since 2018, the U.S. has actually apparently been asking the Dutch federal government to stop ASML delivering its severe ultraviolet lithography makers toChina ASML has actually not delivered the devices to China up until now.
In the wake of the Dutch federal government’s statement, ASML stated in a declaration that, “it will take time for these controls to be translated into legislation and take effect.”
“Based on today’s announcement, our expectation of the Dutch government’s licensing policy, and the current market situation, we do not expect these measures to have a material effect on our financial outlook,” the business stated Wednesday, including that “the additional export controls do not pertain to all immersion lithography tools but only to what is called ‘most advanced’.”
ASML stated that it is unclear what the Dutch federal government suggests by the “most advanced” makers.
However, it stated the guidelines suggest that it will require to request a license to export its so-called immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography device, which is utilized to make memory chips. These chips are utilized in a myriad of gadgets, from smart devices to laptop computers and servers, and might eventually be utilized for expert system applications.
Last month, ASML stated that a previous staff member in China had actually misused information associated to its exclusive innovation.
China has actually been working to strengthen its domestic semiconductor market, however it stays far behind the similarity Taiwan, South Korea and the U.S.
The Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs stated on Thursday that it opposes the politicization of financial and trade cooperation and hopes that the Netherlands keeps an unbiased position, according to Reuters.
Speaking to CNBC’s Street Signs on Thursday, Anna Rosenberg, head of geopolitics at the Amundi Institute, stated that the current statement from the Netherlands is “a big deal” for President Joe Biden.
“The U.S. has actually been attempting to get the EU to agree its policies towards China for a while, and it has considerably more take advantage of with the EU now than prior to the [Ukraine] war, merely due to the fact that the EU is now practically completely depending on its security on the United States,” she included.
