ASML Stock Falls 2% as US Warns Over EUV Machine in China

TLDR

• US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick met with ASML executives to express concern that one of its EUV machines may have entered China illegally.
• ASML flatly denied it has ever shipped an EUV machine or EUV-specific components to China.
• ASML stock dropped around 1.99% following the Bloomberg report.
• In April, the US proposed legislation requiring allies to align with its export controls targeting China’s advanced chip production.
• In December, Reuters reported China built a prototype EUV machine using a team of former ASML engineers.

ASML stock slipped 1.99% after Bloomberg News reported that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick raised concerns with ASML’s senior leadership that one of its top-tier chipmaking machines may have ended up in China, breaching US-led export restrictions.

ASML Holding N.V., ASML

The meetings between Lutnick and ASML executives focused specifically on the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, known as EUV. These are among the most advanced and tightly controlled pieces of technology in the semiconductor world.

ASML pushed back quickly. In an emailed statement to Reuters, the company said: “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.”

That’s a firm denial — and ASML has stood by it.

The company added that it has “consistently adjusted its business to any development in export controls to comply to any new rules,” and said it has refuted all allegations of non-compliance with export controls concerning China.

To put the machines in perspective: ASML’s most advanced EUV systems are roughly the size of a school bus and weigh 180 tons. These aren’t exactly easy to smuggle.

US Push to Tighten Export Controls

The US has been tightening its grip on semiconductor exports for some time. In April, Washington proposed legislation that would require US allies to align with its export controls — specifically aimed at limiting China’s ability to manufacture advanced chips.

ASML’s machines were named directly in that proposed legislation, underlining just how central the Dutch company is to this geopolitical tug-of-war.

The US Commerce Department and the White House were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters outside of business hours.

China’s Own EUV Push

The backdrop here matters. In December, Reuters reported that Chinese scientists had developed a prototype EUV machine, built by a team of former ASML engineers.

That effort was described as China’s version of the Manhattan Project — a state-level push to develop domestic chipmaking capability that doesn’t depend on Western technology or suppliers.

That context is likely part of what’s driving the US government’s concern. If China is already building its own EUV machines with former ASML talent, the worry is that it may also have access to the real thing.

Bloomberg’s report did not detail how a machine might have entered China or provide evidence that one had. The report cited people familiar with the matter.

ASML’s Amsterdam-listed stock (ASML.AS) fell 1.68% on the back of the report, while the broader US-listed ticker dropped 1.99%.

The story broke on June 18, and Reuters confirmed the outlines of the Bloomberg report through ASML’s official response.

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