European interests in chip industry further pressured by U.S. Congress's demands
Dutch Parliamentary questions after new American pressure on ASML - “Europe must send a clear signal: we stand up for our interests and companies.”
Published on November 23, 2024
Opening ASML Academy at Brainport Industries Campus, © Bart van Overbeeke
Bart is the co-founder and co-owner of Media52 (publishing IO+) and a Professor of Journalism at the University of Groningen. He is responsible for all the branches of our company—IO+, events, and Laio—and focuses on commercial opportunities. A journalist at heart, he also keeps writing as many stories as he can.
A US Congressional committee has asked ASML to release sensitive information about its exports of chip machines to China by December 1. The call immediately led to Parliamentary questions (download) in the Netherlands. Volt group chairman Laurens Dassen is asking the Dutch government for a strong European stance against the increasing pressure from the United States.
ASML, the Dutch technology giant and world leader in chip machines, recently received a letter from the China committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. This committee demands that ASML hand over a list of 30 of the most important Chinese customers and details of all equipment delivered to China. The Americans' underlying goal appears to be to slow down Chinese chip production and thus curb China's influence in the global chip market.
The committee, led by Republican John Moolenaar, has approached major American companies such as KLA and Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron of Japan, and ASML. The request is extremely sensitive for ASML, given the confidentiality of customer relationships and strategic information. So far, the China Commission has not taken legal action to force companies to share information. Still, cooperation hardly seems optional for ASML because its U.S. branch employs 8,000 people.
Parliamentary questions
The situation prompted Laurens Dassen to ask 12 critical questions of the prime minister, the minister of economic affairs, and the minister of foreign trade and development aid. Dassen expressed his concerns about the increasing American influence on ASML and asked the government to stand up for European interests.
“The US continues to put pressure on our most strategic company in this way, and this government has no answer to that,” Dassen said in NRC. “US interests are not always ours. Europe must clearly signal that we stand for our interests and companies.”
Dassen's questions focus, among other things, on the possible impact on the global competitiveness of the Netherlands and Europe if ASML were to comply with U.S. requirements. He also asked if the government was aware of other Dutch or European companies that had been approached by the committee and what consequences this had.
A Sputnik moment, the Silicon Curtain, and ASML's role in the global chip war: Navigating geopolitical tensions
Experts in a conversation hosted by Asia Society France concluded that the semiconductor industry will continue to be a battleground for geopolitical competition.
Geopolitical tensions
The U.S. pressure on ASML is part of broader geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. Although the U.S. government has previously imposed export restrictions on ASML's most advanced EUV machines, additional restrictions are now looming. The question is whether the new Trump administration, which takes office in January, will further tighten export rules.
According to the NRC article, U.S. politicians are critical of the effectiveness of export restrictions. Senator Mark Warner called the Biden administration's approach “far too lax,” while the China committee accuses the Commerce Department of not receiving enough data from technology companies. This led to the call to ASML and other companies.
China dissatisfied with Dutch ASML export restrictions
The reaction of China is a response to the stricter rules for advanced chip machine sales.
Economy or security?
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation has indicated it is in close contact with ASML. However, it emphasizes that it is up to the company to weigh what information can be shared. For Dassen, this response is insufficient. He asks the government to explicitly hold the U.S. accountable for the economic damage their policies are causing to ASML and the broader European chip industry.
In addition, Dassen suggests using the European anti-coercive instrument against U.S. pressure. This new EU instrument is designed to send a strong signal against countries trying to pressure European companies.
Dassen criticizes that U.S. export restrictions seem partly economically driven, even though export controls are officially intended for national security. He argues that increasingly stringent U.S. restrictions are harming the sales of ASML, Europe's leading tech company.
Sanne van der Lugt, a China expert for the LeidenAsiaCentre, emphasized earlier for IO+ that U.S. export restrictions raise questions about the sovereignty of the Netherlands. She argues that the U.S. is exerting increasing control over ASML's exports of essential chip machines. Van der Lugt, like Dassen, points to the EU's Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), designed to counter economic coercion. However, there is debate about whether it applies to ASML's case because of mixing security and economic interests.