China’s ruling communist party expressed discontent on Sept. 7 after the Netherlands updated its export control rules to include two more advanced chipmaking machines by the Dutch company ASML.
The photolithography machines, ASML’s TWINSCAN NXT:1970i and 1980i DUV immersion lithography systems, have already been subject to U.S. export control for almost a year.
ASML said the update means that it will need to apply for export licenses with the Dutch government rather than with the U.S. government to export the systems.
Announcing the rules on Sept. 6, the Dutch government said the machines can be used in combination with technologies from other countries to produce semiconductors that “can in turn play an important role in advanced military applications.”
“Uncontrolled export of the equipment therefore has consequences for Dutch security interests,” the department stated.
The ministry asserted that the United States has continuously expanded the concept of national security in order to maintain its global “hegemony.” The rhetoric on “hegemony” is a recurring theme in Beijing’s ongoing attempts to paint its system of governance as an alternative to the international rules-based order led by the liberal-democratic United States and its allies.
The United States began to lobby Japan and the Netherlands during the Trump administration to stop sales of high-end chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms.
The Trump administration also added Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and semiconductor manufacturer SMIC to the Entity List.
ASML has an effective monopoly on extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), a technology that uses extreme ultraviolet to produce transistors for the most advanced microchips. The Dutch company is also leading in the deep ultraviolet immersion lithography (DUV).
Under U.S. pressure, the Dutch government has never allowed ASML to ship its very best EUV tools to China-based customers.
In September 2023, it also began requiring ASML to obtain export licenses if it wanted to sell the company’s most advanced DUV equipment outside the European Union.
The two systems added to the export control list on Sept. 6 are in the middle of ASML’s product range.
They were already listed in the U.S. rules announced in October 2023, which restricted the sale of the equipment on the argument that they contain some U.S. parts.
Interest in the 1980i and 1970i machines follows success by China-based firms, such as SMIC, at making advanced chips by running silicon wafers under such DUV tools many times, a process known as “multi-patterning.”
At an event in New York on Sept. 4, ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said that China-based chipmakers will be able to produce chips at the 7 nm, 5 nm, and eventually 3 nm technology levels using DUV tools—better than the limits set by Washington.
However, chipmakers using the technique will suffer ever-worse yields, making the goal a demonstration of engineering prowess that is economically unviable, he said.
