The company, a manufacturer of chip-making machines, was planning to export equipment to China but has had its export licences revoked by the Dutch government.
ASML is one of the only a handful of manufacturers of extreme ultraviolet lithography systems (EUVs), which use lasers to help create the circuits for chips.
According to reports from Bloomberg, ASML cancelled the shipment because of a request from the US administration. This was denied by the company which said that the licence for the shipment of two types of lithography machines had been “partially revoked” by the Dutch government.
It did, however, say that it had held recent discussions with the US government, and obtained “further clarification of the scope and impact of the US export control regulations.”
Those regulations came into force last October as the US looked to block exports to China from non-US companies of semiconductor chips and lithography machines that contain US-made components or technology.
The US is determined to prevent China expanding its semiconductor knowledge and manufacturing capabilities.
In response to the US move the Dutch and Japanese governments agreed to put restrictions on sales of equipment to China and this included ASML’s deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, the second most advanced it produces. Those restrictions came into force on January 1st.
A Chinese government spokesperson urged the Dutch, “to be impartial, respect market principles and the law, take practical actions to protect the common interests of both countries and their companies and maintain the stability of international supply chains”.
At a commercial level ASML has said that the cancellation of the deal would not have a “material impact” on its financial outlook.
For China, ASML’s customers will now need to look for alternative options to procure similar tools and, more likely, will need to buy more, but less efficient equipment, to reach their capacity goals.
Those customers include the likes of Semiconductor Manufacturing International, Hua Hong, Nexchip Semiconductor, Wuhan Xinxin Integration Dianlu Manufacture and United Nova Technology.
The move will certainly impact Chinese efforts to develop a more self-reliant semiconductor industry as while Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment, China's only known maker of lithography machines, has developed a lithography machine for use on the 28nm production node – that is a long way behind current cutting-edge chips.
