The United States is concerned that China is getting its hands on advanced chip-making machines sent to it by ASML.
Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce, is said to have sat down with ASML executives several times to express his concerns that the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine would somehow fall into Chinese hands. Such a move would violate US export rules, which prohibit sending ASML UV machines to restricted places such as China.
The fact that Lutnick brought this up shows that Washington has not let down its guard over sensitive technology sales to China, even as President Donald Trump recently eased some chip export restrictions there.
Bloomberg broke the story first, noting that the White House did not provide reporters with any evidence to support Lutnick’s own statements.
ASML responded on Friday, saying it had “never shipped a UV machine to China, nor have we shipped to China any component, unit or equipment specifically designed for use in a UV machine.”
The Dutch government told Reuters that it strictly applies its licensing rules to “chipmaking equipment, components and technology that explicitly fall under these rules.”
The EUV weighs 180 metric tons and is the size of a school bus. TSMC uses this machine to produce chips used by major American companies such as Nvidia. That’s why China remains a step behind in reaching the level of US chipmakers. However, it was also reported last year that China was trying to manufacture its own EUVs.
The former ASML engineer was working on the prototype for China, the Reuters report said. The country’s Manhattan Project As Cryptopolitan previously reported.
The United States has been closely monitoring ASML
The United States is also concerned about ASML’s maintenance agreements there, and has raised questions about its sale of deep ultraviolet (DUV) systems to Chinese buyers, a business that accounts for up to a fifth of the company’s total revenue.
In April, US lawmakers proposed invoice That would push US allies to match Washington’s stricter export controls, with ASML named directly in the draft legislation.
ASML responded by saying that it understands the national security reasons behind the rules in both the United States and the Netherlands and remains fully committed to following them.
On the other hand, Trump eased some restrictions on technology exports to China. Nvidia received approval in January to sell H200 AI chips there, and last month, it was approved to buy ten Chinese companies. However, Beijing is encouraging its technology industry to choose locally made chips instead.
There is a separate concern brewing across the Atlantic
A reflective article entitled Europe 2031written by a group of Brussels-based researchers, depicts a future in which the United States and China leave Europe behind because they fail to invest in data centers, robotics, and homegrown artificial intelligence.
The article appeared just one day before the Trump administration moved to block “foreign nationals” from accessing an AI model called Fable, created by Anthropic.
The article went viral during a week of G7 meetings, fueling talk about Europe’s need to build its technological independence. Its authors say they feel “entitled,” in part because one of their predictions, that the United States would limit global access to advanced artificial intelligence systems, briefly came true.
The article is part of a broader trend of speculative AI scenarios that have caught the attention of officials, including a 2025 article called AI 2027 that US Vice President J.D. Vance was said to have read.
The United States faces increasing criticism of data centers
At home, US opposition to data centers has grown rapidly, moving from local complaints to broader battles over land and resource use. Monterey Park, California, became the first US city to permanently ban large data centers this month after residents voted strongly in favor of doing so.
New York lawmakers passed a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data center projects. As of June, fourteen states were considering similar restrictions, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, as officials in Washington increasingly view advanced artificial intelligence systems as strategic national assets.
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