U.S. pushed Dutch tech company to block Chinese sales

ASML Holding canceled shipments of some of its machines to China at the request of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, weeks before export bans on the high-end chipmaking equipment came into effect, people familiar with the matter said.

The Dutch manufacturer had licenses to ship three top-of-the-line deep ultraviolet lithography machines to Chinese firms until January, when new Dutch restrictions took full effect. However, U.S. officials reached out to ASML to ask them to immediately halt pre-scheduled shipments of some of the machines to Chinese customers, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were confidential.

Biden is cracking down on Beijing’s attempts to create its own advanced semiconductor industry, and the U.S. and its allies are blocking access to imported technology. China’s Huawei Technologies produced a smartphone to rival Apple’s iPhone last year using top-of-the-line chips made with ASML’s immersion lithography machines, Bloomberg News has reported.