ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said that although the Dutch government’s takeover of Nexperia has triggered tensions between the Netherlands and China, it has not yet had an impact on ASML.
Fouquet said in an interview with the Dutch program "Buitenhof" that the case of Nexperia clearly reminds people of the importance of the semiconductor industry and that the entire ecosystem is very fragile. This incident also demonstrates the importance of all parties demonstrating a sense of responsibility and emphasizes that dialogue is key.
"It will not affect our business in the short term." Fouquet believes that the tense relationship between the Netherlands and China will not affect ASML in the short term, and believes that the worst stage of this crisis has passed. He also emphasized that it was important to communicate before escalating. This development was just the opposite because there were so many stakes involved.
Nexperia's parent company is China Wingtech Technology, headquartered in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. It is mainly responsible for supplying power control chips that are widely used in BMW, Volkswagen and other automobile manufacturers. However, the Dutch government suddenly took over key decision-making powers of the company in late September due to concerns about technology leakage, prompting Beijing to take retaliatory measures, which in turn stalled exports of key auto parts and hampered European and global auto production.
However, the deadlock has eased recently, and China resumed some Nexperia chip exports earlier this month. The Dutch government also stated last Thursday (13th) that it would send a delegation to China early this week to seek a solution acceptable to both parties.
Fouquet said that as the only company in the world that can produce cutting-edge exposure machines, ASML provides equipment to TSMC, Intel, etc., so that it can manufacture advanced chips for various products such as smartphones and artificial intelligence accelerators.
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