Export controls won’t affect bottom line this year, says ASML

The agreement between the US, the Netherlands and Japan to restrict the export of certain types of semiconductor equipment to China won’t affect ASML’s rosy prognosis issued last week. “In combination with the current market situation, we don’t expect these measures to have a material effect on the expectations we’ve published for 2023,” a spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Little detail of the framework agreement, reached last Friday, has been made public, but reportedly, the supply of more advanced immersion scanners to Chinese customers will be regulated. This would be in line with the control measures unilaterally issued by the US in October, which restrict chip-making gear that can be used to manufacture sub-14nm chips.

More details might never be officially disclosed, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has hinted. “If something would come out of this, it’s questionable if this will be made very visible,” he said before word of the agreement reached the public. “This is such a sensitive topic that the Dutch government chooses to communicate diligently, and that means that we only communicate in a very limited way.”