US urges allies to tighten China’s access to chip tech
Washington pushes Seoul, Berlin to jointly contain China’s tech rise
The U.S. government is urging the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and Japan to further tighten curbs on China’s access to semiconductor technology, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The United States wants Japanese companies to limit exports to China of specialized chemicals required for chipmaking, including photoresist, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Washington is also pressing the Netherlands to stop semiconductor equipment maker ASML from servicing and repairing chipmaking equipment for Chinese clients bought before limits on sales of those devices were put in place this year, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, confirming part of the Bloomberg report.
Tokyo and The Hague want to assess the impact of their current curbs before considering tougher actions, the report said, adding that the U.S. Commerce Department officials raised the issue in Tokyo during a meeting on export controls last month.
The Dutch foreign ministry declined to comment on the report, while the U.S. Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.
An official at Japan’s industry ministry said the ministry routinely discusses export controls with relevant countries.
ASML could not be immediately reached for comment.
American officials had earlier expressed particular concerns about China’s ability to employ advanced chips and the powerful processors they enable for its fast-growing military.
Dutch gov’t scrambling to
keep ASML domestic
The Dutch government is talking with semiconductor equipment maker ASML to ensure that the Netherlands’ largest company does not move to another country, or expand abroad, due to anti-immigration policies, the economy minister said.
The news was first reported by newspaper De Telegraaf, which cited anonymous sources and said the ministries involved had dubbed the effort “Operation Beethoven.”
Economic Affairs Minister
Micky Adriaansens would not address all aspects of the paper’s report, but in an interview with Reuters, she confirmed that she was meeting ASML CEO Peter Wennink in The Hague on Wednesday as part of what she said were ongoing talks.
“I don’t know if they would leave” the Netherlands, she said. “They want to grow. And they want to grow in such an amount, it puts a pressure on our infrastructure.”
“That’s why we’re talking to them very intensively. Because we want to understand, is it something we can solve?”
The report follows comments made by ASML CEO Peter Wennink in January when he warned that his company was highly reliant on skilled foreign labor, after anti-immigration parties booked big gains in 2023 elections.
ASML declined to comment on Wednesday. However, Wennink spoke at an event in The Hague and said he was concerned the business climate in the Netherlands was worsening.
“Some of these elements that made us a great company, those elements are under pressure,” he said, citing increasing regulation and a plan to scrap a tax break given to highly skilled immigrants.