ASML is reportedly willing to spy on its customers to make it right with the U.S.
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(Image credit: ASML) According to a new report, ASML reportedly offered to provide the United States with information about its Chinese customers. The offer came after it was caught selling more machines that went against an agreement stopping the sales of extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) and deep ultraviolet light (DUV) lithography machines to China.
According to NL Times , the Netherlands and the U.S. agreed in January 2023 that the former would stop selling and exporting its DUV lithography machines (with EUV machines already banned) to the U.S. rival starting in September 2023, with the ban taking full effect by January 2024. In the meantime, there was a gentleman’s agreement between the two nations that ASML would only ship a limited number of DUV machines that it was contractually obligated to deliver, and stop further sales of these devices.
However, the book De belangrijkste machine ter wereld , which translates to “The most important machine in the world” [machine translation] and was written by former Bloomberg journalists Diederik Baazil and Cagan Koc, says that ASML CEO Peter Wennink allegedly sold more machines than agreed in the intervening period, breaking the pact between the two nations. Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Wennink that his company “was venturing into dangerous territory” and that the Netherlands government felt misled and humiliated. He also said that Washington demanded they regain its trust, and that it was in the company’s best interest to do so.
Aside from restricting the sale of its equipment, the U.S. also sought to block ASML from servicing machines already deployed in China. However, instead of an outright ban, the ASML CEO suggested that the company be allowed to continue its services to its Chinese clients while also making its engineers report on the developments within these companies.
ASML’s employees have unique opportunities because its people have regular access to China’s fabs and also frequently work with Chinese engineers, allowing them to have unique insight into what’s actually going on behind the scenes. “ASML could be Washington’s eyes and ears in China,” the book said, quoting a senior U.S. government official. Of course, ASML denied making this offer, with its spokesperson telling NL Times that it was an inaccurate portrayal from the two authors.
This is likely one of the reasons why the U.S. government is wary of the dominance of Chinese companies within its borders. Beijing passed its National Intelligence Law in 2017, which requires all institutions and individuals to cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies. Although there are other reasons, this law is probably one factor that Washington considered leading to the 2019 Huawei ban, with other giants like drone-maker DJI and networking hardware manufacturer TP-Link also facing potential sanctions.
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/asml-allegedly-offered-to-spy-on-china-for-the-us-company-proposed-being-washingtons-eyes-and-ears-in-china-after-breaking-gentlemens-agreement-on-limiting-duv-sales-to-country-says-new-book#main
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