As of last week, Dutch authorities were focused on imposing additional restrictions on the export of lithographic equipment to countries deemed unreliable, including China. In an effort to coordinate their efforts, the US government is seeking to expand their own export restrictions in April, pending agreement with the Netherlands and Japan.

ASML TWINSCAN

The US plans to double the number of prohibited lithographic machine models exported to China, from 17 to 34. However, the US may abandon these plans if they cannot align with their Dutch and Japanese counterparts, who are also major lithographic equipment suppliers to China.

Meanwhile, the Dutch authorities plan to prohibit the export of three specific models of lithographic scanners to China: TWINSCAN NXT: 2000i, NXT: 2050i and NXT: 2100i, all of which use deep ultraviolet laser radiation and immersion lithography. It remains to be seen whether the US will pursue similar restrictions from American manufacturers. Japan has yet to make an official statement on the matter.