【Text by Observer Net, Xiong Chaoran】The Dutch government has caused the "ASMI incident," and the situation has been escalating for more than a month. As a representative company in the Dutch technology industry, ASML finally made a statement on this issue.
According to a report by Bloomberg on November 16 local time, ASML's CEO Christophe Fouquet said during an interview with the national TV program "Buitenhof" that the tense confrontation between the Netherlands and China over ASMI highlighted the fragility of the supply chain, and also indicated that dialogue is crucial in preventing disputes from escalating.
In the program, he emphasized the importance of the semiconductor industry and the vulnerability of its ecosystem, as well as the importance of all parties showing responsibility. "The key is communication before the situation escalates, and this time it might be the opposite," he added: "This is a big issue."
As the only company in the world producing advanced lithography machines, ASML provides equipment to many semiconductor manufacturers, including TSMC and Intel. Fouquet believes that the short-term tension between the Netherlands and China will not affect ASML, and added that the most severe period of the crisis has passed.
Photo of ASML CEO Fouquet from the video
Previously, on September 30, the Dutch government suddenly ordered to "forcefully take over" the wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese semiconductor leader Wintek Technology, ASMI, under the pretext of "national security," but did not publicly disclose it until October 12.
On the day before the Dutch government took action, on September 29 local time, the U.S. government issued a new export control rule, imposing equal-level export controls on Wintek Technology's subsidiaries listed on the "Entity List" with more than 50% shareholding.
Public information shows that ASMI is headquartered in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and is the core semiconductor business base of Wintek Technology, focusing on discrete devices and logic devices. Its predecessor was a department of NXP Semiconductors, which became independent in 2017 and was fully acquired by Wintek Technology in 2019, becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wintek Technology. In 2024, ASMI's revenue reached about 14.7 billion yuan, accounting for one sixth of Wintek Technology's total revenue that year.
Reuters pointed out that although the chips produced by ASMI are not cutting-edge products, their production volume is huge, mainly produced in Hamburg, Germany, then transported to China for packaging and assembly processes, and finally sold to the global automotive industry, with car manufacturers such as BMW and Volkswagen being its customers.
The Dutch government's forced takeover of a Chinese-invested enterprise triggered supply interruptions, causing a "earthquake" in the global automotive supply chain, affecting all major automakers in the US, Europe, and Japan.
The UK's Guardian also pointed out that the ASMI incident caused a "supply shortage" crisis globally, after which the US and China held economic and trade talks, and the US decided to suspend implementing its 50% penetration rule published on September 29 for one year, while China recently resumed chip supplies.
On November 8 local time, Maroš Šefčovič, the EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, posted on social media platform X that China would exempt the strict licensing requirements previously implemented due to the forced takeover of the Chinese-invested enterprise ASMI, and agreed to resume supplying key chips to the European automotive industry, provided that the buyers commit to using these semiconductor products only for civilian purposes.
According to reports, on November 13 local time, the Dutch government stated that it would send a delegation to China this week to seek a solution acceptable to both sides.
An employee walks past a clean room at ASMI. Visual China
Earlier, the Financial Times reported that EU officials warned that despite the resumption of chip exports by China, European automobile manufacturers and other industrial companies continue to face a "devastating" chip shortage, which could lead to the shutdown of global production lines within weeks.
A senior executive of an automobile manufacturer said that while Chinese factories have some wafer inventories, "if they cannot obtain wafers from Germany and the EU, the inventory will be exhausted," and added that the company has only a few weeks of chip supply left. The executive called on ASMI (Netherlands) to resume supply as soon as possible and said, "What is happening now is confusing and could have devastating consequences for hundreds of industries."
According to Reuters on November 13, two sources said that European customers of ASMI are working with the company to find a workaround to bypass the dispute between its European department and its Chinese factory. According to the information, they referred to the plan as a "temporary patch," i.e., directly purchasing silicon wafers from the European factory and transporting them to China, and signing contracts with the Chinese factory for final packaging.
The report said that ASMI and its parent company Wintek Technology have not yet commented on the above report.
However, the Netherlands still remains stubborn. On November 13, Vincent Karremans, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, stated in an interview with the Guardian that he felt no regret for causing the dispute, and even if looking back, he would not change his approach.
According to the website of the Ministry of Commerce on November 14, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce stated that the Chinese side noticed the recent remarks of the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Karremans, in the media. The Chinese side expressed extreme disappointment and strong dissatisfaction with such statements that confuse right and wrong, distort facts, and act unilaterally. The profound lessons brought by this semiconductor supply chain crisis to the world are that administrative means should not be used to improperly intervene in corporate operations. Before the Dutch government issued the administrative order on September 30 and the Dutch court made an erroneous judgment on October 8, the global semiconductor supply chain was stable and secure. However, the Dutch government's improper intervention and the takeover of 99% of the shares of a 100% privately owned enterprise, which violates the spirit of contract and is an imprudent and impulsive act, has caused a ripple effect, becoming the root cause of the turmoil and confusion in the global semiconductor supply chain.
China has always taken a responsible attitude and taken concrete measures to exempt exports for compliance with civilian use, and has made every effort to restore the smoothness and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain. In the short term, the semiconductor supply chain crisis has eased under China's efforts. However, due to the actions of the Dutch side, the global semiconductor supply chain remains vulnerable, and the situation is still severe. The Dutch side ignores the safety and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain, not only lacking practical actions to solve the problem, but also allowing ASMI to refuse to provide wafers to Chinese enterprises, sending letters from lawyers to prevent Chinese subcontractors from supplying outside, leading to many car companies still facing the risk of supply interruption, upgrading an internal conflict of one company into a systemic risk of the global semiconductor supply chain.
China's position and attitude have always been consistent. China has agreed to the Dutch side sending envoys to China for consultation, and is willing to work with the Dutch side to quickly resolve the current crisis, starting from the overall situation of maintaining the safety and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain. However, it must be emphasized that the Dutch side should come with constructive solutions rather than just going through the motions or repeating old tunes; they should come to solve the problem, not create new problems and contradictions. It is hoped that the Dutch side will genuinely demonstrate the willingness to cooperate with China and quickly propose substantive and constructive solutions to the problem.
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