“The Netherlands and Japan are close to an agreement with the United States on chip exports to China”

The Netherlands and Japan are close to an agreement with the United States on limiting the export of chip technology to China. According to the Bloomberg news agency, export restrictions from the Netherlands and Japan could be completed by the end of this month. Both countries are major players when it comes to high-quality chip equipment.

“I’m absolutely confident we’ll get there,” Rutte said in an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Rutte was still at the White House on Tuesday, where he spoke with US President Joe Biden on, among other things, export restrictions. Even then, the Prime Minister indicated that he had confidence in the success of the negotiations.

Read also | Rutte positive about chip talk with US, makes no promises

Unilateral measures

The US government took unilateral action in October to limit the export of highly advanced semiconductors and semiconductor technologies to China. This is no longer allowed to be supplied to China by US companies. Americans are no longer allowed to participate.

The Netherlands is one of the world’s largest suppliers of machinery used in chip production. But the Americans want to limit the export of ASML chip machines to China. This applies not only to the most modern EUV machines from ASML, the export of which to China has already been suspended, but also to the somewhat older machines which manufacture with DUV technology. Japan has major chip companies such as Tokyo Electron and Renesas.

Read also | America steps up pressure on ASML