“Gone too far”
The Dutch politician is on board with the Biden Administration—up to a point.
It appears as if ASML has a virtual monopoly on the technology until 2025, when presumably rivals will catch up. For that reason, Hoogeveen favors targeted restrictions on the sale of EUV tech in the name of national security: “These technologies are geopolitical assets we shouldn’t simply hand over to anyone just to make a quick buck.”
Yet Hoogeveen worries President President Joe Biden won't stop there. The administration may seek to expand export controls beyond state-of-the-art lithography machines that harness the properties of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation to include older equipment as well.
The Dutch MEP specifically opposes U.S. efforts to block the sale of argon fluoride (ArF) immersion technology, which uses liquid solutions as a lens to focus electromagnetic light from the deep UV spectrum. Not only are these machines not listed among dual-use goods subject to controls under the international Wassenaar Arrangement, Beijing can already purchase them from Nikon of Japan, ASML’s closest competitor.
“His administration is increasing pressure on ASML to also ban the export of these DUV immersion machines to China,” he explained. “I believe the current administration has gone too far.”