Overview
- In meetings in April, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ASML executives he is worried one of the company’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems or related transport components may have reached China.
- ASML has flatly denied the claim and circulated a Washington brief titled “No indication of any ASML EUV System in China,” saying 314 EUV machines are in operation worldwide, 26 have been decommissioned, and none are in China.
- U.S. officials say they possess evidence suggesting EUV-related components or transport equipment were shipped to China but have not publicly shown that evidence or provided it to ASML.
- The dispute has produced modest, mixed market moves for ASML shares and renewed momentum in Washington for tougher export rules such as the proposed MATCH Act that would broaden curbs and service limits.
- EUV machines are uniquely critical and hard to move because they require ASML involvement for installation and maintenance, so any confirmed breach would carry large commercial and national security consequences for chip supply chains and for workers tied to equipment servicing.