ASML’s key equipment likely to block imports from China
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix’s negative impact
Japan announces export control plan as early as this week
While the US is stepping up pressure to contain China’s semiconductor industry, the Netherlands, a powerhouse in semiconductor equipment, is also strengthening export controls for its semiconductor technology and equipment. The Dutch government put forward ‘domestic and foreign security reasons’ as the background of export control, but in fact it is interpreted as an intention to block the import of semiconductor equipment from its own companies into China. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which operate semiconductor factories in China, are keenly aware of the Dutch government’s move.
According to Archyde.com and AFP on the 9th, Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Rie Schreinemacher sent a letter to Parliament on the 8th (local time), saying, “It is necessary to expand the existing export control regulations for certain semiconductor production equipment.” He said the relevant regulations would be introduced before summer. In the letter, Minister Schreinemacher did not directly mention China, a trade partner, or ASML, a domestic semiconductor equipment company, but stated that the deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment technology produced by ASML would be affected.
He cited ‘international and domestic security needs’ as the reason for strengthening export controls, saying, “It is necessary to supervise this technology as quickly as possible. We will publish a national control list in the future.” Earlier, ASML said last month that Chinese employees at its Chinese subsidiary stole information related to proprietary technology.
The Dutch government, which is participating in the US regulation of China along with Japan, has banned the export of cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment produced by ASML since 2019, but has allowed exports of the previous generation DUV lithography equipment.
DUV lithography equipment is universal equipment used to make general-purpose semiconductor chips such as smartphones and PCs. Samsung Electronics imported DUV equipment from ASML to its Xi’an plant in China and SK Hynix to its Wuxi plant and used them for NAND flash and DRAM production, respectively. there is. Archyde.com suggested that this measure might also affect Korean companies, saying, “ASML’s biggest customers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both have significant production facilities in China.”
An industry insider said, “EUV equipment is state-of-the-art equipment for which securing a domestic factory is an urgent priority, but DUV is equipment used by all semiconductor manufacturers, so we are waiting for a specific announcement from the Dutch government.” It might also adversely affect the operation of the electronics and SK Hynix factories in China.”
In addition, it is known that the Japanese government will also announce a policy that strengthens semiconductor equipment export regulations this week at the earliest.
Reporter Park Seong-guk
