Dutch Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma visited Washington this week for talks with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and members of Congress to oppose the MATCH Act, a proposed law that would prevent Chinese chipmakers from accessing Western semiconductor equipment and would have a significant impact on ASML.
According to TechCrunch, Netherlands-based ASML is Europe’s most valuable company and the world’s only manufacturer of advanced lithography machines used in the production of cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips.
Dutch official takes concerns to congress amid high stakes
“It’s exceptional that I’m coming here to broadly outline our concerns to Congress,” Sjoerdsma told Bloomberg following the meetings. “The stakes for the Netherlands may be very high.”
China accounts for 19 per cent of ASML’s net system sales. The MATCH Act would extend existing restrictions by covering ASML’s deep ultraviolet immersion machines, in addition to the long-standing ban on its most advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment being sold to China.
ASML chief executive Christophe Fouquet told TechCrunch in May that China can currently purchase older-generation deep ultraviolet machines, equipment first shipped around a decade ago. The MATCH Act would place those machines beyond China’s reach as well.
The bill, introduced in April, has not yet faced a full vote in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. Bloomberg reported that it would likely need to be incorporated into a broader legislative package to secure passage.
