Late last week, Dutch authorities decided to synchronize their export control rules with those of the United States, resulting in the inclusion of two additional models of ASML lithography scanners for chip production. The Chinese authorities predictably expressed dissatisfaction with this decision of the Dutch authorities, but at the same time criticized the US policy.
Image Source: ASML
The Chinese Minister of Commerce stated the following: “In recent years, in order to maintain global hegemony, the United States has continued to force certain countries to strengthen export controls in the field of semiconductors and specialized equipment. China is strongly against this.” According to the Chinese official, the Dutch side should not abuse export control rules, avoid measures that harm cooperation with China in the semiconductor field, and protect the common interests of Chinese and Dutch companies.
Let us recall that the Dutch colleague of the Chinese minister explained the new restrictions adopted by reasons of national security. From now on, to supply DUV systems of the Twinscan NXT:1970i and NXT:1980i models to unfriendly countries, equipment exporters must obtain an export license from the authorities of the Netherlands, and not from the United States, but this does not change the essence of the restrictions. The Western coalition believes that with the help of such equipment, Chinese companies are capable of producing fairly advanced 7-nm and 5-nm chips. Concerns about their use in weapons systems explain why such bans are linked to national security arguments.