The report sorts Beijing's methods into five categories: economic statecraft, digital and information operations, physical interference, legal pressure, and talent-based technological espionage. ASML said in 2023 that a former China-based employee stole data about its lithography tools from an internal product lifecycle management system, one of several insider theft cases at the company stretching back to 2015, and the Dutch military intelligence service MIVD named all three sectors as Chinese espionage targets in its 2024 annual report.
China restricted rare earth exports through 2025, and ASML's complex optical systems depend on those materials. The EU holds an anti-coercion instrument designed to counter economic blackmail by non-member states, but leaders treat it as a last resort. The tool was "created with China in mind," Benedetta Girardi, program coordinator of the HCSS Europe in the Indo-Pacific program, told Nikkei Asia .
Dutch anti-discrimination law prohibits screening policies that target only Chinese nationals, and the standard VOG background certificate doesn't account for an applicant's conduct or connections outside the EU. The report proposes a tiered system instead, whereby companies identify their "he Hague Centre for Strategic Studies has rated the Dutch semiconductor industry as being at very high risk of Chinese foreign interferencejewels" and apply deeper screening, weighing factors such as susceptibility to blackmail or bribery, to staff with direct access, while junior hires and contractors get lighter checks.
A proposed resilience fund, built with the EU and NATO, would pay to replace equipment such as server motherboards, BMCs, and large ship-to-shore cranes with European-made equivalents. The mechanism would sit alongside Project Beethoven, the €2.5 billion Dutch government effort to expand domestic semiconductor production capacity, and would include surge funding that unlocks during crises such as sanctions escalation or major cyber campaigns.
ASML denies US government report that its EUV chipmaking tool was shipped to China
US Secures Netherlands for Pax Silica Alliance in key win for strategic chip alliance
Lawmakers want US government to ban memory chips from China, even in allied supply chains
ASML denied a U.S. government concern in June that one of its EUV machines had reached China in breach of export controls, telling Tom's Hardware the claims were baseless and harmful to its reputation.
The Nexperia dispute , in which the Dutch government seized the chipmaker from its Chinese parent, and Beijing responded by blocking exports from its Guangdong site, played out while the report was being written. In a crisis such as a confrontation over Taiwan, the researchers assess that Chinese leverage over strategic industries would likely constrain Dutch policy choices and limit participation in allied responses.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/government-funded-dutch-report-rates-chip-sector-at-very-high-risk-of-chinese-interference#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/subscription
- Intel Nova Lake leak points to Core Ultra Series 400 branding, staggered release next year — hotly anticipated flagship 52-core desktop CPU might not arrive unt
- Bristol Myers Squibb Building Life Science Industry’s Most Advanced AI Factory on NVIDIA Vera Rubin
- Mario Kart Wii recompiled for PC using AI, with 4K potential and uncapped frame rates — 'first static recompilation of a Wii game' supports over 200 tracks than
- Save $148 on an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D bundle with 32GB of RAM, motherboard, and liquid AIO — start your AM5 gaming build for just $1,039
- Joyride Through July With 12 Games Coming to GeForce NOW
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.