【By Observer News, Liu Bai】After the export of chip equipment to China caused anger from the U.S. government, Dutch lithography giant ASML has even offered to be the "eyes and ears" for the United States in China? This astonishing news appears in a new book titled "The World's Most Important Machine."

ASML today (24th) clarified and denied the related information, and told Observer News that the content of the book is seriously inconsistent with the facts, damaging the company's reputation, and ASML reserves the right to take further actions.

According to the Dutch financial newspaper "Het Financieele Dagblad," on November 20, this new book was co-authored by former Bloomberg journalist Diederik Baazil and Cagan Koc. Based on anonymous sources, the two recorded several key dialogues between the Netherlands, ASML, and the United States in recent years, including an incident that happened in 2023.

In January of that year, the Netherlands and the United States reached an agreement to further restrict the export of lithography machines to China, which took effect in September of that year and would be fully implemented from 2024. During the several months of transition, the U.S. and the Netherlands reached a "gentlemen's agreement": ASML was only allowed to deliver a small number of deep ultraviolet lithography machines (DUV) that had been signed with China, and it was prohibited from selling any new equipment.

However, the number of machines sold by ASML to China during this period far exceeded the scale agreed upon with the United States, which made the U.S. furious.

Former CEO of ASML, Wim Nelissen

U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo immediately called then-ASML CEO Peter Nieuwenhuizen, and then-Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also summoned Nieuwenhuizen for questioning.

Rutte warned him that violating the agreement with the United States was pushing the Netherlands into a dangerous situation, causing the Dutch government to lose face in front of key allies.

Rutte also clearly stated that the government had been misled by ASML, and rebuilding American trust was not only a requirement of the U.S. government but also in the interest of ASML itself.

It is worth noting that Nieuwenhuizen has always publicly criticized the U.S. ban, believing that excluding China would only lead China to invest more effort in independent technological research and development.

The authors revealed that after being pressured, Nieuwenhuizen proposed an astonishing idea: if the U.S. allowed ASML engineers to continue providing services to Chinese customers, the company could provide relevant intelligence about the internal operations of Chinese chip factories to the U.S.

Nieuwenhuizen's idea was that ASML engineers needed to go to the site of equipment deployment to perform equipment maintenance and communicate with local employees, and thus ASML could become Washington's "eyes and ears" in China.

The authors described this as an "unusual" proposal: "A Dutch private company seems willing to provide sensitive information to the U.S. government in exchange for more lenient policy treatment."

However, U.S. President's National Security Advisor Sullivan rejected the proposal, saying he did not want to give China an opportunity to fill the gap in the chip manufacturing field.

The book describes that when asked about this matter, an ASML spokesperson said that the company had never made such a proposal to the U.S., calling it an inaccurate description of the event.

In a statement to Observer News, ASML said that the company noticed a recently published Dutch-language book focusing on the company has attracted media attention. The company does not recognize the content of the book.

The statement pointed out that before the publication of the book, we have already informed the authors in writing that multiple statements in the book are seriously false and have damaged ASML's reputation. We reserve the right to take further action.

Any claims in the book that ASML ever proposed to act on behalf of any government are not consistent with the facts and are misleading. Similarly, any claims that ASML intended or ever intended to violate the agreements of the Netherlands, the United States, or any other government are also not true.

The statement finally emphasized that ASML has always complied with all laws and regulations applicable to its business operations and conducts its business within the scope of relevant export control regulations.

In January 2024, China once solemnly responded to the U.S. push for a "lithography machine ban," stating that China has always opposed the U.S. generalization of national security concepts, using various excuses to force other countries to implement technological blockades against China. The semiconductor industry is highly globalized, and under the context of deep economic integration among countries, the U.S. bullying and bullying actions seriously violate international trade rules, seriously disrupt the global semiconductor industry structure, and severely impact the safety and stability of the international industrial chain and supply chain. It will eventually backfire.

China simultaneously urged the Netherlands to uphold an objective, fair position and market principles, respect the spirit of contract, and take concrete actions to safeguard the common interests of China and the Netherlands and their respective companies, as well as maintain the stability of the international industrial chain and supply chain, and the free, open, fair, and non-discriminatory international trade environment.

In the end, regardless of whether the content of the book is true or not, the suppression and blockade by the U.S. and the West are just small ripples in the massive wave of China's science and technology.

Looking back years later, these schemes and calculations of the U.S. and Western countries are only amusing.

As ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said earlier in an interview with The New York Times, U.S. chip export restrictions not only weaken ASML's leading position in the semiconductor industry, but also have the opposite effect, further promoting China's self-reliance and self-strengthening.

The Nikkei Asia also cited an American expert in July, stating that the U.S. continuous restrictions and suppression against China reflect the naivety or ignorance of U.S. policymakers in understanding China's chip equipment manufacturing capabilities.

This expert said that many strong competitors have already emerged in China, and may increase investment in independent R&D of semiconductor equipment. Once Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers become competitive in the international market, it will be difficult to stop them.

This article is an exclusive work of Observer News. Without permission, it cannot be reprinted.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7576209616636265006/

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