Hong Kong CNN —ASML, a Dutch maker of semiconductor equipment, says “rules are being finalized” on export controls, amid reports that the Netherlands and Japan have joined the United States in restricting sales of some computer chip machinery to China.
Bloomberg reported that the deal “would extend some export controls the US adopted in October” to Dutch and Japanese companies, including ASML (ASML), Nikon (NINOY) and Tokyo Electron.
In recent months, the Dutch government has faced pressure from the United States to limit chip-related exports to China, particularly from ASML, according to Xiaomeng Lu, director of geo-technology at the Eurasia Group.
It noted that it mainly sold “mature” products to China, and its most advanced lithography technology had already been restricted since 2019.
Those machines had been prohibited from being sent to China because the Dutch government had “refused to grant it a license under US pressure,” Lu previously told CNN.