U.S. tells ASML it suspects EUV lithography machine reached China; ASML denies, says it tracks every system shipped

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told ASML executives in recent meetings that the U.S. government believes one of ASML's extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems may have reached China in breach of export controls. According to Bloomberg, senior U.S. officials claim to possess evidence that ASML shipped EUV-related components and specialized transport equipment to China, though they have not publicly disclosed that evidence. ASML has categorically denied the allegation, stating: "ASML has never shipped an EUV machine to China, nor have we shipped to China any component, module or equipment specially designed to be used in an EUV machine."

The accusation is extraordinary: ASML holds a monopoly on EUV tools (the only machines capable of printing advanced semiconductor patterns below 7nm), with no viable competitors after Nikon and Canon exited the market years ago. Each EUV scanner weighs 180 tons, spans multiple aircraft shipments, and requires continuous ASML maintenance via remote monitoring systems. ASML notes that 314 EUV systems operate worldwide and 26 have been retired—none in China, per the company's internal tracking. The Wassenaar Arrangement has barred ASML from selling EUV to China since 2019; the only EUV tool sold to Chinese chipmaker SMIC remains in the Netherlands.

For policy architects and supply-chain managers, this signals mounting tension over the integrity of the Western export-control regime. China's 2025 prototype EUV effort (reported by Reuters with help from former ASML engineers) is still years behind ASML's frontier, but the U.S. concern reflects anxiety that a single leaked machine could serve as a reference model, accelerating Chinese indigenization. The result: tighter scrutiny on ASML and possibly broader restrictions on DUV servicing, which already cut China from 36% of ASML system sales (Q4 2025) to 19% (Q1 2026).