China's Chip Tool Push Shows ASML Caught in US-China Squeeze
The report highlights a possible Chinese rival as US export controls squeeze ASML’s China sales and investors erase more than €60 billion in value.
- On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Shanghai Aishengna Electronic Technology Group began mass-producing immersion DUV lithography tools, causing ASML shares to fall 10% over two days and wiping more than €60 billion off its market value.
- China seeks technological independence in chip production, challenging ASML's dominant position built over two decades through steady improvements in machine yield and throughput that pushed aside competitors including Japan's Nikon and Canon.
- Production targets reveal the gap: China plans to manufacture five immersion DUV tools this year and 20 in 2027, far below the 131 systems ASML shipped in 2025.
- Sanne van der Lugt, a researcher with the Leiden Asia Center, said US export controls "successfully created a business case for Chinese lithography," warning that tougher rules could backfire.
- US Congress is debating the MATCH Act to block immersion DUV exports, while technology policy lead Paul Triolo warned that limiting access to ASML engineers could accelerate adoption of domestic equipment.
13 Articles
13 Articles
China is starting to manufacture the machines that made the Dutch giant's success itself, and the markets have not waited to react.
Berlin aligns itself in Brussels and secretly maps the companies with which Beijing is still dependent. A tariff war (in autumn) seems inevitable but time is ticking and China burns the stages: in the production of lithographic chip machines, dominated so far by the Dutch Asml, a Shanghai company has just broken the EU monopoly.
US export curbs could boost China's chipmaking push, analysts say
Western concerns over China’s reported breakthrough in domestic chipmaking equipment may be premature, with analysts saying Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML still holds a significant technological lead. A state-backed company in Shanghai has begun manufacturing immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, with about five systems expected this year and around 20 more in 2027. The first tools are reportedly set to be deployed at …
ASML's China problem couldn't have come at a worse time: Lionel Laurent
Bloomberg's Lionel Laurent argues that reports of a Chinese firm nearing production of rival chipmaking machines have rattled ASML investors at the worst possible time, given the Dutch company's AI-driven sales boom. While analysts still see China 7-10 years behind ASML's technology, the bigger worry is that US-led export controls meant to contain Beijing have instead accelerated its push for self-sufficiency. For South Africa, watching from the…
Dutch chip machine manufacturer ASM International is in intense talks with the White House regarding the proposed Match Act. With this law, the US aims to restrict the export of advanced chips to China, including those by Dutch chip companies. ASM CFO Paul Verhagen ‘fundamentally disagrees’ with the law but is not considering legal action. ‘We are trying to manage it as best we can.’
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