The Dutch government announced new restrictions on advanced semiconductor equipment exports on Friday amid U.S. pressure on allies to limit supplies to China.
Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said, “We have taken this step in the interest of our national security” and that such technology may be military.
Schreinemacher said only “very limited” companies and product types would be affected. China was unnamed.
The new laws did not impact ASML (ASML.AS), a Dutch computer chip equipment supplier.
On Sept. 1, advanced chipmaking equipment manufacturers will need a license to export.
The notification included a technical document listing which equipment needs a license.
A high-level agreement between the U.S. and two allies with large chip equipment sectors, The Netherlands and Japan, tightened limitations to limit Beijing’s chip production.
ASML, Europe’s largest technology business, repeated a March announcement that the top section of models of its second-most advanced “DUV” lithography devices, used to print chip circuitry, would require a license.
It called its 2000 series “and subsequent” models and maintained the rules would not affect its financial estimates. China has never received ASML’s top EUV machines.
ASML fell 3.6%, while ASM International (ASMI.AS) fell 1.8%.
ASM International, which develops atomic layer deposition tools, said the Dutch guidelines, which cover that technology, would not affect its forecasts.
In October, the U.S. restricted exports of chipmaking tools from Lam Research and Applied Materials to China for national security reasons and persuaded other important suppliers to do the same.
China denounced the move, which escalated tensions over 5G equipment, surveillance balloons, and Taiwan.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that the U.S. might add requirements next month that might harm an older ASML machine model. All $200 million ASML machines use U.S. technology.
Schreinemacher predicted 20 annual license applications, a “limited part of the total product portfolio of the companies that fall under this rule.”
The Wassenaar Arrangement prohibits ASML from selling EUV equipment without a license.
The Wassenaar Arrangement determines security-restricted exports in the EU.
Though few European countries export high-end chipmaking equipment, the new Dutch list may be adopted by other countries or added to the EU list.
ASML uses Trumpf lasers and Zeiss lenses, among other German parts.
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