Dutch minister pushes back against US chip bill targeting China, ASML
Dutch Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma visited Washington to oppose the MATCH Act, which would bar Chinese chipmakers from accessing Western semiconductor equipment and heavily impact ASML, Europe's most valuable company.
Dutch Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma traveled to Washington this week to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and members of Congress. The purpose of the visit was to voice concerns over the MATCH Act, a bill that would prohibit Chinese chipmakers from accessing Western semiconductor equipment. The legislation would particularly hit ASML, the Netherlands-based company that is Europe's most valuable firm and the sole global manufacturer of advanced lithography machines essential for producing cutting-edge AI chips.
Speaking to Bloomberg after the meetings, Sjoerdsma described his trip as exceptional, aiming to broadly outline the Netherlands' concerns to Congress. He emphasized that the stakes for the Netherlands could be very high. China accounts for 19% of ASML's net system sales.
The MATCH Act would extend existing export controls. Beyond the long-standing ban on ASML's most advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools, the new restrictions would cover deep ultraviolet immersion machines as well. ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet told TechCrunch in May that China currently can only purchase older-generation deep ultraviolet tools—equipment first shipped about a decade ago—the same machines the MATCH Act would now put off limits.
Introduced in April, the bill has not yet faced a full vote in the House or Senate. According to Bloomberg, it would likely need to be folded into a larger legislative package to pass.
