US puts pressure on Netherlands to block ‘sensitive technology’ exports to China
A Dutch company which manufactures computer chip-making machines has become enmeshed in the US-China trade war.
Veldhoven-based, ASML applied in June 2019 for an export licence to deliver one of its machines to an unnamed Chinese customer but is still waiting while both the US and China lobby the Dutch government to, respectively, block and permit the export.
At issue is ASML’s lithography machine, which uses light to print tiny patterns on silicon – a crucial step in computer chip mass production. ASML is the world’s only manufacturer of lithography machines that use extreme ultraviolet (‘EUV’) light technology. The firm sold the first of its €120m ($134m) machines in 2017 and aims to scale up to selling 35-40 per year by 2021.
But EUV technology is included in the Wassenaar Arrangement control list, both for the lithography process (‘Imprint lithography templates designed for integrated circuits’) and for the custom integrated circuitry it can produce, ‘for which either the function is unknown or the status of the equipment in which the integrated circuit will be used is unknown’ (WA 3.A.1, p.74).
Both the US and China have attempted to influence the Dutch decision. The US, which has previously lobbied in private to stop AMSL from exporting to China, has recently confirmed its stance. In an interview with Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad, US ambassador Pete Hoekstra said: ‘We have made it very clear to the Dutch: we believe that this is particularly sensitive technology that does not belong in certain places’ (meaning China).
Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Xu Hong, told Financieele Dagblad that China is ‘concerned that the Netherlands is politicising our trade relationship under American pressure … If this movement continues it will of course negatively affect bilateral relations.’
Dutch Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Irene Gerritsen said this week that ‘When deciding whether to issue an export licence, the Dutch government weighs both the economic and security interests.’
