Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a regular press conference on July 6, 2022. /MOFA
The U.S. is practicing "technological terrorism" in its attempt to further restrict Dutch company ASML from selling lithography machines – the essential equipment for chip making – to China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Wednesday.
ASML, the world's top supplier of cutting edge chip-making machines based in the Netherlands, has already been prohibited from selling its most advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines to China since 2019 under a U.S. export ban.
The U.S. is now lobbying its allies to stop the sale of the slightly older and more widely-used deep ultraviolet (DUV) machines, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
"This is yet another example of the U.S. practice of 'coercive diplomacy' by abusing state power and wielding technological hegemony. It is also classic technological terrorism," Zhao said at a regular press conference.
In this era of globalization, the U.S. has been repeatedly seeking to "politicize, weaponize and ideologize economic and trade issues," exercising "technological blockade" and decoupling against other countries, Zhao said, adding it would only remind other countries of the risks of technological dependence on the U.S. and prompt them to quickly become independent and self-reliant in science and technology.
"Those who seek to block others' way will only end up blocking their own way," he said, calling on the parties concerned to adopt an objective and impartial stance on the matter and make independent decisions based on their own long-term interests and the market principles of equity and fairness.
The booth of ASML at a pavilion of the 4th China International Import Expo in Shanghai, China, November 9, 2021. /CFP
ASML says unaware of any policy change
A spokesperson for ASML said the company was unaware of any policy change, Reuters reported.
"The discussion is not new," the spokesperson said, adding no decisions have been made and they don't want to "speculate or comment on rumors."
The company's shares on the U.S. Nasdaq plunged by as much as 8.3 percent following Tuesday's report, the biggest intraday drop since March 2020, and wrapped up with a 3.87-percent dip by the end of the trading day.
The Chinese mainland, which is ASML's third-largest market, generated 2.74 billion euros ($2.8 billion) of ASML's revenues, around 15 percent of its total.