In the convoluted world of chipmaking tools, export licensing from a particular country becomes a story worthy of writing about. On Friday, ASML said that the Dutch government has, as Reuters put it, retaken export controls over its outdated yet popular immersion DUV fab tools, which are still widely used by many chipmakers, including those from China.
“As a result of the updated license requirements, and in line with U.S. Export Administration Regulation 734.4. (a).(3) ASML will need to apply for export licenses with the Dutch government rather than the U.S. government for shipments of its Twinscan NXT:1970i and 1980i DUV immersion lithography systems,” ASML states. “The Dutch export license requirement is already in place for the Twinscan NXT:2000i and subsequent DUV immersion systems. Sales of ASML’s EUV systems are also subject to license requirements.”
The fab tools in question—Twinscan NXT:1970i and 1980i—are immersion DUV tools with an argon fluoride (ArF) laser capable of 38nm resolution. They are suitable for processing wafers using 7nm-class process technologies or even finer ones using a multi-patterning technique.
In fact, ASML itself admitted that its advanced DUV tools could enable China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) to produce chips with 7nm, 5nm, and potentially even 3nm-class production nodes using multi-patterning techniques. However, ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet warned that while technically possible, the process is inefficient, leading to lower production yields and, therefore, making it economically unsustainable.
ASML’s Twinscan NXT:1970i and 1980i use technology developed in the U.S. (we might speculate that these are Cymer light sources, but we are speculating), which is why the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) demanded that ASML get an export license from the U.S. government to ship these tools to entities in China and other countries of concern.
Now that the Dutch government is in charge of Twinscan NXT:1970i and 1980i export controls, it might review export license applications more favorably for ASML and its Chinese customers. However, ASML itself does not expect that (at least officially).
“Since this is a technical change, this announcement is not expected to have any impact on our financial outlook for 2024 or for our longer-term scenarios as communicated during our Investor Day in November 2022,” ASML states.
Considering that the U.S. government expects its allied nations to have the exact same export controls (which probably includes the black list of fabs where companies involved in the fab tool business cannot ship their products), we certainly do not expect the Dutch government to grant export licenses in cases where the U.S. government did not. But who knows?
