China's president says it doesn't need ASML — tells Dutch PM it will continue with advanced technological progress regardless

SMIC
(Image credit: SMIC)

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a recent meeting that efforts to limit China's access to technological advancements would not deter the nation's progress. This discussion came after the Netherlands imposed export controls on advanced chipmaking tools in alignment with U.S. efforts to restrict China's access to advanced technology out of concern for national security, according to a report by the Associated Press

"The Chinese people also have the right to legitimate development, and no force can stop the pace of China's scientific and technological development and progress," Xi said. 

The Netherlands' decision to enforce export licensing on ASML's lithography equipment — which can be used to make logic chips using 14nm and more advanced process technology — is a big deal for China's semiconductor makers such as SMIC and YMTC. SMIC recently partnered with Huawei to produce 7nm-class smartphone processor using ASML's advanced deep ultraviolet (DUV) litho tools and the two companies are reportedly working on making 5nm-class chips, using these machines

The ongoing tension between the U.S. and China over technology access have led China to accuse the U.S. of hindering its economic development. The U.S. does not want to China to have access to high-performance processors that could be used for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications, as powerful supercomputers could be used to develop China's military capabilities, as well as weapons of mass destruction. This is why American companies such as AMD, Intel, and Nvidia can no longer sell their latest products to Chinese entities without an export license from the U.S. government.  

The U.S. does not want China to be able to produce its own AI and HPC processors for the same reasons. To ensure this, the U.S. has restricted American companies from selling advanced wafer fab equipment (WFE) to China-based entities, and has managed to persuade Japan, the Netherlands, and Taiwan to do the same — which has obviously upset China. 

The People's Republic badly needs sophisticated homegrown lithography equipment to enable its chip manufacturers to fabricate chips using even relatively advanced process technologies, such as 14nm. The country is making some progress with domestic lithography tools: Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE), China's most advanced lithography scanner manufacturer, reportedly introduced its first 28nm-capable tool last year, but it is unclear whether the company can produce such machines in volumes.

Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

  • peachpuff
    That's called a bluff.
    Reply
  • Notton
    I don't understand that paragraph with the "WMD" randomly inserted into it.
    Can you elaborate?
    Reply
  • parkerthon
    Good luck to them. I’m sure the global market would welcome the competition long term, but there’s a reason they are a natural monopoly.

    There’s no reason to believe a word China or Russia says. Not least because they have no accountability to their people to be honest or factually semi-correct in the least. This trickles down to everything including overstating their plans and capabilities. ASML certainly knows this.
    Reply
  • parkerthon
    peachpuff said:
    That's called a bluff.
    Thats called domestic propaganda. Nobody believes them. Especially given the huge headwinds they are facing with their own demographics and heavy handed economic development policies. We should only focus on China militarily at present and western countries ability to decouple our technology supply chains if their dictator decides to finally “reunify China” and invade Taiwan.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    It's a negotiating tactic, nothing more.

    If Xi Jinping didn't care about ASML, why would he even bother meeting with the Prime Minister of a small European country? I mean, how often does that even happen??
    Reply
  • endocine
    China absolutely has the right to develop and chart their own technological progress, independent of any other nation. The problem is that, ok, so just go do it and beat ASML at their own game. Today, that isn't happening, certainly not without a lot of industrial espionage.
    Reply
  • ivan_vy
    endocine said:
    China absolutely has the right to develop and chart their own technological progress, independent of any other nation. The problem is that, ok, so just go do it and beat ASML at their own game. Today, that isn't happening, certainly not without a lot of industrial espionage.
    many problems are solved throwing money at it, they eventually catch up, the coffers are filling up
    https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/huawei-gains-11-in-a-down-year-for-chinese-pc-sales-dell-loses-44-market-share
    Reply
  • ivan_vy
    parkerthon said:
    Thats called domestic propaganda. Nobody believes them. Especially given the huge headwinds they are facing with their own demographics and heavy handed economic development policies. We should only focus on China militarily at present and western countries ability to decouple our technology supply chains if their dictator decides to finally “reunify China” and invade Taiwan.
    looks like sanctions-happy lawmakers want this, war in Europe has just benefited war industry and gas industry, I don't think a semiconductor motivated war would benefit the world.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Notton said:
    I don't understand that paragraph with the "WMD" randomly inserted into it.
    Can you elaborate?
    Nuclear physics is infamously complex and requires a lot of complex computer modeling to get right.
    Reply
  • Pierce2623
    ivan_vy said:
    looks like sanctions-happy lawmakers want this, war in Europe has just benefited war industry and gas industry, I don't think a semiconductor motivated war would benefit the world.
    The guy didn’t endorse a semiconductor motivated war. He simply said the Western economy should be prepared to completely decouple from east Asia if necessary.
    Reply