ASML denies US accusation an advanced machine reached China

ASML has denied a US suggestion that one of its most advanced chipmaking machines may have reached China in breach of export controls, after the accusation was reported by Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the talks.

US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick raised the concern with senior ASML executives in a series of recent meetings, telling them Washington believed an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system – the most advanced chipmaking tool, made only by ASML – could be operating in China.

ASML, the Veldhoven-based firm that is the Netherlands’ most valuable listed company, rejected the suggestion outright. “ASML has never shipped an EUV machine to China, nor have we shipped to China any component, module or equipment specially designed to be used in an EUV machine,” it said in a statement.

The company points out that its EUV machines are roughly the size of a school bus, weigh about 180 tonnes, are built in small numbers and need constant servicing – making it, it argues, close to impossible for one to be moved unnoticed, let alone operated, without ASML knowing.

No evidence for the claim has been made public. The US commerce department did not answer repeated questions from Bloomberg, including whether it had any proof that an EUV machine was in China.

Senior officials, speaking anonymously, said they had indications ASML was not acting in good faith – citing exports of EUV-related equipment, which the company also denies – but declined Bloomberg’s requests for evidence, citing the sensitivity of the information.

Years of pressure
EUV systems are used by manufacturers such as Taiwan’s TSMC to make the chips that power Nvidia and Apple products, and have never been exportable to China: their sale was blocked from 2019, under US pressure, during the first Trump administration.

The Netherlands later went further, tightening controls on ASML’s second-most-advanced DUV machines from September 2023 after an agreement with Washington and Tokyo.

In late 2023 the Dutch government partly revoked a licence covering two DUV models bound for China, which was among ASML’s biggest markets as the curbs took hold.

The US has aired suspicions about EUV reaching China before without producing evidence. It is not clear why the issue has resurfaced now or what the Trump administration wants, with ASML, as Bloomberg put it, left to prove a negative.

The episode also follows years of friction over Chinese efforts to obtain ASML’s technology, including a 2018 US court ruling that a competitor set up by former staff had stolen company secrets. ASML shares fell after the report; the company has previously said export curbs would not materially dent its results, as demand elsewhere offsets lost Chinese sales.