The US government has reportedly pressured semiconductor manufacturing equipment giant ASML to cancel some deliveries to China ahead of the latest regulations taking effect, but the company itself has not confirmed whether this is the case. is refusing.
The Dutch manufacturer is caught up in the “chip war” between the US and China because it makes some of the world’s most advanced photolithography equipment. This is the only current source for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems, for example to produce chips at the smallest production nodes.
However, these are already prohibited from export to China under existing export regulations, and updated rules announced last year now extend this to some of ASML’s deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment. expanded.
According to Bloomberg, ASML canceled shipments of some of these machines to China at the request of the Biden administration before new restrictions took effect this month. Anonymous sources familiar with the matter claim that U.S. officials have asked the company to immediately cancel scheduled shipments.
As expected, ASML is taking a somewhat cautious stance on this issue since China is a lucrative market for the company. China was ASML’s biggest market after Taiwan and South Korea, according to some estimates, but the company’s market for Q3 2023 was 2023, as domestic chipmakers rushed to procure new equipment before the drawbridge was raised. It is said that it accounted for nearly half of the company’s sales.
“The license to ship NXT:2050i and NXT:2100i lithography systems in 2023 was recently partially revoked by the Dutch government, impacting a small number of customers in China,” ASML said in a statement. .
The company previously said Dutch authorities had issued it a permit to continue selling DUV machinery to China until the end of 2023, after which it would have to stop sales.
However, the company said the relevant export license appears to have been “partially” revoked by the Dutch government, as it had already been used to deliver some cargo to China during 2023. .
The closest thing to conclusive evidence is this part of ASML’s statement: “In recent discussions with the U.S. government, ASML received further clarification regarding the scope and impact of U.S. export control regulations. U.S. Export Regulations (published October 17, 2023) imposes restrictions on certain medium-critical DUV immersion lithography systems for a limited number of advanced production facilities.”
“It is unlikely that we will be able to obtain an export license to ship the NXT2000i (and later versions) to customers in China in 2024,” an ASML spokesperson said.
However, the company said it does not expect the revocation of export licenses or the latest U.S. export control restrictions to have a material impact on its 2023 financial outlook. This is despite previous estimates indicating that ASML could suffer losses of around 10% due to the updated export restrictions. 5% of annual revenue.
All export controls are aimed at preventing China from getting its hands on cutting-edge chip technology, out of concern about what the Chinese military might do with it. However, despite these measures, China’s Huawei last year was able to announce a new smartphone with a homegrown system-on-chip built on the 7nm process, and there are rumors that it will feature a 5nm laptop chip. There is also. ®