Wednesday, July 6th 2022
US Wants ASML to Stop Product Shipments to China
ASML is one of the critical semiconductors companies, as they provide tools for making actual silicon. Located in the Netherlands, they are famous for their DUV and EUV lithography tools, used to etch designs onto silicon wafers. According to the report from Bloomberg, the United States governing body is negotiating with the Dutch government to restrict the export of ASML's products to China. This came to affection following US Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves's visit to the Netherlands to discuss supply chain issues and meeting with ASML Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink. While these suggested export restrictions could be beneficial to the strategic placement of US against China, it would hurt ASML's revenue as sales in China accounted for a 16% share of the company's revenue in 2021.
It is recorded that the Chinese spending spree on tools has been the greatest among every country, lasting for two years in a row. By banning ASML from exporting its lithography tools to China, the US could theoretically halt Chinese plans for achieving the government's intended semiconductor independence. The talks with the Dutch government and ASML are still a work in progress, so we are yet to see if the deal is finalized. Additionally, it is worth pointing out that the major US semiconductor manufacturing tool makers like Applied Materials and Lam Research are already banned from exporting to China.
Source:
Bloomberg
It is recorded that the Chinese spending spree on tools has been the greatest among every country, lasting for two years in a row. By banning ASML from exporting its lithography tools to China, the US could theoretically halt Chinese plans for achieving the government's intended semiconductor independence. The talks with the Dutch government and ASML are still a work in progress, so we are yet to see if the deal is finalized. Additionally, it is worth pointing out that the major US semiconductor manufacturing tool makers like Applied Materials and Lam Research are already banned from exporting to China.
49 Comments on US Wants ASML to Stop Product Shipments to China
Dutch gov already stated as much as 'we'll direct our own course wrt China, together with the EU'
ASML is saying as much as 'DUV is old crap, we don't care'
If you can't be constructive, don't post.
ASML are the de facto solo enablers for what we have today. Unless some 3-letter agencies don't do some shady stuff to ASML execs, ASML can give the finger to whomever they choose to, with almost zero consequences.
Keep in mind that a Zen 3 CCD, for example, has four EUV layers but also tens of DUV layers on top of those, so for every EUV scanner that processes wafers, there need to be many DUV scanners in operation, some of them doing multiple patterning.
I don't mean this in a xenophobic way... that station is just old tech vs the ISS...Primarily, the setup cost us so huge no one wants to bother.
There is so much involved.
Heck just look at Intel, freaking INTEL trying to get into the gpu space....and how much they are having trouble...
Quite bizarre really when you think of it.this really did surprise me as well... Intel engineers are considered the best in the world, so I thought sure they would save the competition in GPU market... was not expecting them to struggle so much...
Not necessarily saying the US is entirely in the right or anything here...
I used to work for a company that created their own Novel MOCVD and Ion Beam Deposition tools and this happened to them. A customer of theirs sold one of their MOCVD tools to china illegally and the chinese company that bought it then reverse engineered the tool and then started distributing it internationally. Eventually the company I used to work for tried to sue said company for patent infringement because the tool was cloned basically but had to go to china in order to do so because its impossible to touch these companies outside of china and it didn't even make it to trial. Its a far bigger problem than most people realize.
This being a political article, my opinion is that I can see this happening under Trump, so its kind of surprising to me that this happened under the current administration.I am not sure thats entirely the right move, I mean there has to be something of worth trading with China just to keep political talks happening, this kinda of move could anger China into desperate actions. I'd rather see tariffs apply/increase instead of trade sanctions.
Stop your geopolitical opinion rants.
Remember, we have a broad member base... respect that.
We are about tech... not hate-mongering/hate.