news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[text/observer network lai jiaqi] according to a report by reuters on september 4, christophe fouquet, ceo of dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer asml, said at a citibank conference in new york that over time, the export controls imposed by the united states on china in the name of "national security" have become more like "economic motives."

"it's getting harder and harder to prove that this is a matter of national security." fuquet predicts that there will be more and more voices opposing us regulation in the future. "it's likely that there will be greater pressure for restrictions, but at the same time there will be more opposition." in his view, companies hope to achieve a balance because doing business requires "a little certainty, a little stability."

in april this year, fouquet took over from peter wenninck as the head of asml. for many years, he has kept a low profile and rarely spoke publicly about geopolitical issues. from several public statements, it can be seen that fouquet advocates global technological cooperation and has repeatedly warned against decoupling and disconnection of the semiconductor industry.

before taking over, fouquet said in an interview with nikkei asian review that he did not believe asml could achieve decoupling, and that decoupling of the global semiconductor supply chain was "extremely difficult and extremely expensive" and it would be difficult for any country to establish a chip industry independently.

his predecessor, wenninck, has also publicly expressed his opposition to us export controls many times after leaving office, believing that us export controls would instead encourage china to work harder to catch up. in early july this year, wenninck expressed a similar view to fouquet in an interview with dutch radio station bnr that the chip war launched by the united states against china is based on ideology rather than facts, and he expects the united states' deliberate suppression of china to continue.

as early as 2018, there were reports that the united states put pressure on the dutch government to ask asml to stop exporting advanced lithography machines to china. in recent years, the united states has put export controls directly on the table, and has continuously tightened its chip export control measures to china on the grounds of "national security." last october, the united states unilaterally issued a temporary final rule to restrict asml's export of some mid-range machines to china. reuters recently broke the news that since april this year, the us government has been brewing new restrictions on chinese chips.

asml is the largest company in the netherlands and the largest technology company in europe, and has made a significant contribution to the dutch economy. therefore, in the face of repeated pressure from the united states to further restrict exports to china, the attitude of dutch politicians has always been cautious, and there is no lack of opposition.

new dutch prime minister dick schoolf said on august 30 that the dutch government will take asml's economic interests into account when deciding whether to further tighten semiconductor export rules to china. "asml is an extremely important innovative industry for the netherlands and should not be affected under any circumstances, as this would damage asml's global position," he said.

former dutch prime minister mark rutte has been opposed to restricting asml's exports to china too strictly and called for more time to assess the impact of the export ban on high-end chip manufacturing equipment. in march this year, when mark rutte visited china to respond to relevant issues, he said that the netherlands will ensure that export control measures will not be specifically targeted at a certain country and work hard to reduce the impact of export restrictions.

last year, when the united states unilaterally announced restrictions on asml's exports of some mid-range machines to china, several dutch lawmakers questioned whether the netherlands had economic autonomy. some said that even for allies, unilateral changes to the rules are intolerable.

regarding the us government's continuous tightening of chip export control measures on china, spokespersons of the chinese ministry of foreign affairs have repeatedly stated that china has always opposed the united states' generalization of the concept of national security and its use of various excuses to coerce other countries to impose a technological blockade on china.

semiconductors are a highly globalized industry. against the backdrop of deep integration of economies among countries, the us's hegemonic and bullying practices seriously violate international trade rules, seriously undermine the global semiconductor industry landscape, and severely impact the security and stability of the international industrial chain and supply chain, and will surely backfire.

this article is an exclusive article of observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.