Full-Scale US-Japan Cooperation Begins
The Netherlands, home to ASML, the world's largest semiconductor lithography equipment manufacturer, is expanding controls on semiconductor technology exports. As Japan is expected to announce new measures on semiconductor equipment export policies as early as this week, coordinated efforts led by the United States, along with semiconductor technology powerhouses such as the Netherlands and Japan, to curb China are intensifying.
According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 8th (local time), Liesje Schreinemacher, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, stated in a report submitted to parliament that "there is a need to expand existing export control regulations on certain semiconductor manufacturing equipment" and added, "We will introduce related regulations before summer."
Regarding the background of this decision, the Dutch government cited "international and domestic security needs" on the surface. She emphasized, "The Netherlands needs to supervise as quickly as possible for international and domestic security reasons" and "will announce a national-level control list in the future."
The Netherlands is the country where ASML, the sole producer of cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, is located. Minister Schreinemacher did not directly mention China, a trade partner, or ASML, a domestic company, but specified that the advanced lithography equipment technology exclusively produced by ASML would be affected.
The Dutch government has banned ASML from exporting advanced EUV lithography equipment to China since 2019 but has allowed exports of the previous generation deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment. The Dutch government's plan to strengthen existing export control regulations appears to target exports of the older generation DUV lithography equipment.
Bloomberg interpreted this as a coordinated decision to crack down on semiconductor equipment exports to China under pressure from the Joe Biden U.S. administration. It also reported that Japan, which joined the U.S. alongside the Netherlands in controlling semiconductor equipment exports to China, is expected to announce new semiconductor equipment export policies as early as this week.
Meanwhile, ASML stated in a press release on the same day that "this measure will not have a significant long-term impact on the company's finances." Earlier, ASML projected an overall sales growth rate of 25% for this year while expecting sales to China to remain at a similar level to last year, around $2.2 billion.
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