US Warns ASML a Top EUV Chip Tool May Have Reached China

A direct confrontation over the world's most advanced chip tool

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has raised concerns directly with senior leaders at ASML that one of the Dutch company's extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines may have made its way into China in violation of U.S.-led export restrictions, according to a report by Bloomberg News. The allegation marks the most direct confrontation yet between the Trump administration and the semiconductor equipment maker, which holds a near-total monopoly on EUV technology essential for producing the world's most advanced chips.

What EUV machines are and why they matter

ASML is the only company on Earth capable of building EUV lithography systems, the room-sized tools that etch the impossibly fine circuitry found in cutting-edge processors. Without them, a country cannot manufacture the leading-edge chips that power advanced AI, smartphones and supercomputers. For years, the U.S. has pressed the Netherlands and Japan to restrict the flow of this equipment to China, treating EUV access as a frontline issue in the technology rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

ASML pushes back hard

ASML has strongly denied the claim. After an April meeting with Lutnick, the company created and circulated a document in Washington titled "No indication of any ASML EUV System in China." It states there are 314 EUV machines in operation globally, with 26 decommissioned, and none in China. "ASML has never shipped an EUV machine to China nor have we shipped to China any component, module or equipment specially designed to be used in an EUV machine," a spokesperson told Bloomberg. The company also notes that EUV systems are the size of a school bus, are built in tiny quantities, and require constant on-site maintenance from ASML staff, making any covert transfer extremely difficult to conceal.

The evidence dispute

Multiple senior administration officials told Bloomberg they have evidence that ASML shipped specialist equipment used to transport EUV machines to China, along with other components that could be used in EUV systems. They described the proof as too sensitive to disclose publicly and suggested ASML "is not acting in good faith." ASML continues to deny exporting any EUV-related equipment to China.

A widening squeeze

The dispute lands as Congress pushes for even tighter limits. The bipartisan MATCH Act, proposed earlier this year, would prohibit exports of ASML's less advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) machines, which Chinese chipmakers can still buy to make older-generation semiconductors. With ASML shares already under pressure from proposed U.S. export curbs, the standoff underscores how central this single Dutch firm has become to the global balance of technological power.