Dutch restrictions on chip exports set for September

Dutch export restrictions on technology to manufacture semiconductors, adopted in March under pressure from the United States and sharply criticized by China, will enter into force in September, the government said Friday.

The Netherlands, thanks to the ASML company, is Europe's premier maker of the machines that help manufacture semiconductors, the brains driving not only consumer electronics but weapons as well.

The Dutch government said companies producing cutting-edged equipment to manufacture semiconductors would need to obtain permission before exporting their products to foreign clients as of September 1.

"Semiconductors can provide a crucial contribution to certain advanced military applications," Dutch trade minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in a statement.

"We have taken this measure in the interest of our national security," she said.

ASML said that its top-of-the line EUV technology capable of etching semiconductors of just two nanometers in width was already under export controls and that the new ones would require permits to export DUV technology capable of making circuits as small as seven nanometers.

The company said it expects the measures would have only a limited effect on its business.

"Based on today's announcement, we confirm that we do not expect these measures to have a material impact on our financial outlook that we published for 2023 or for our longer-term scenarios as communicated during our Investor Day in November 2022," it said in a statement.

China said in March that it "firmly opposes" the new Dutch export restrictions, calling it the result of "bullying and hegemony" by the West.

The export curb was announced less than two months after Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte discussed the issue with US President Joe Biden during a visit to Washington.

The United States adopted similar export restrictions in 2022.

The Chinese government has set a strategic goal of becoming 70 percent self-sufficient in semiconductors in 2025.

 

AFP