As of April 1 ASML will not be able to sell To its Chinese clients its measurement and inspection equipment of integrated circuits. Dutch administration has tightened its controls export to China, aligning with The sanctions approved by the US At the beginning of last December. In practice, these prohibitions force the largest manufacturer of the planet’s lithography equipment to request licenses from the Netherlands government to export a good part of its machines.
However, this is not all. At the end of last February several US officials They met with their Dutch and Japanese counterparts With a firm purpose: negotiate what steps can take to drastically limit the participation of ASML and Japanese Tokyo Electron engineers in the maintenance of semiconductor production equipment that are being used by their Chinese customers.
China is already the largest Asml market
The sanctions that the US governments and the Netherlands are approving are degrading the ASML business in China. It is inevitable if we are in mind that this European company cannot sell its most advanced lithography equipment to its Chinese clients. And neither can some maintenance and after -sales services services provide. The most surprising thing is that despite the current situation the Chinese market is increasingly important for ASML.
Despite the current situation, the Chinese market is increasingly important for Asml
In 2022 the sales of this company in China amounted to 2.9 billion euros, which represented 13.8% of its annual sales. At that time Taiwan was a more important market for Asml than China. In fact, in 2023 the clients of the island bought lithography equipment for a total value of 8,100 million euros, while its Chinese clients disbursed 7.3 billion euros. And, curiously, in 2024 China was consolidated as the largest market for ASML with total sales of 10.2 billion euros.
To understand where this figure comes from, we need to keep in mind something important. As we have seen, ASML cannot sell its most advanced equipment to its Chinese clients, such as the machines of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) or deep ultraviolet (UVP), but at the moment you can deliver the solutions that allow producing chips with mature integration technologies. These are the semiconductors that are mostly used in cars, appliances or electronic devices, among other products, and usually occur in nodes of 28 nm or less advanced.
Anyway all these machines need maintenance. And ASML is determined to guarantee it to its Chinese clients beyond the very likely reluctance that US governments and the Netherlands can put. According to SCMP This company will build a repair and reuse of lithography equipment in the heart of China. In Beijing. This decision comes at a time when The tension between the US and China is maximumso, in reality, it is a very clear statement of intentions: ASML will protect your business in China at all costs. We will see what the government’s response led by Donald Trump will be.
Image | ASML
More information | SCMP
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