Netherlands Expands Chip Equipment Controls; ASML Expects No Impact

The Netherlands last week said it expanded its export controls on advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools, imposing new license requirements on certain deep ultraviolet lithography equipment that can be used to make high-end chips. The new control, effective Sept. 7, is meant to restrict equipment that can be used to make chips with “advanced military applications,” the Dutch government said, which “has implications for the Netherlands’ security interests.”

Beginning from the effective date, “companies will have to apply for an authorisation when exporting this type of advanced manufacturing equipment” to destinations outside the EU, the Netherlands said. The government said it will review applications case by case, stressing that the new rules are “not an export ban.”

Exporters who already have licenses to ship certain types of this newly controlled lithography equipment can continue to ship those items “for the period specified in the license,” the Netherlands said, according to an unofficial translation. Exporters shipping other types of equipment may need to apply for a new license.

“The extension of the licensing requirement concerns specific equipment that is only made by a very limited number of companies in the Netherlands,” the government said. “The licensing requirement concerns a small part of the total product portfolio of the companies that fall under this scheme.”

Leading Dutch chip equipment maker ASML said it doesn’t expect the change to have “any impact” on its financial outlook, and views it as a “technical change” to “harmonize” Dutch export controls with those imposed by the U.S. ASML said it has complied with those U.S. rules.

“As a result of the updated license requirements, and in line with US Export Administration Regulation 734.4.(a).(3), ASML will need to apply for export licenses with the Dutch government rather than the US government for shipments of its TWINSCAN NXT:1970i and 1980i DUV immersion lithography systems,” ASML said. “The Dutch export license requirement is already in place for the TWINSCAN NXT:2000i and subsequent DUV immersion systems. Sales of ASML’s EUV systems are also subject to license requirements.”

Dutch Trade Minister Reinette Klever said the country introduced the controls “for reasons of security,” adding that the Netherlands has imposed controls in a “careful and targeted manner” to minimize impacts on global trade.

“We see that technological advances have given rise to increased security risks associated with the export of this specific manufacturing equipment, especially in the current geopolitical context,” Klever said. “The Netherlands has a unique, leading position in this area. This entails certain responsibilities, which we take seriously. The Dutch semiconductor industry needs to know what it can expect.”

The Netherlands last year imposed new export controls on chip equipment destined to China (see 2306300028), although U.S. officials have been pressing the country to put in place more restrictions (see 2212060059, 2407170040 and 2403270038).