As the Dutch company tries to navigate the latest restrictions on semiconductor exports to China, the U.S. government is trying to not alienate its allies, like the Netherlands.
Cleanroom workers in ASML's Headquarters, Veldhoven, Netherlands. Credit: ASML
The U.S.’s stringent new controls over exports of chips to China have left companies throughout the semiconductor supply chain scrambling to adapt. Yet one industry giant that is central to the chipmaking process appears relatively unperturbed.
ASML, a multi-billion dollar Dutch company whose highly-prized lithography machines are vital to making the chips that power everything from mobile phones to weapons systems, says it expects only a “fairly limited” impact from the Biden administration’s latest rules.
Although the company already does not sell its most advanced, extreme ultraviolet machines (EUVs ) to China, under pressure from Washington, the latest restrictions won’t prevent it from exporting one of its other core products — deep ultraviolet machines (DUVs), which form the transistors on microchips.
ASML's 'TWINSCAN NXT:2050i', a DUV. Credit: ASML
While the U.S. government has discussed measures to restrict DUV exports, “there have not been any n
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