US pressured chip equipment provider to halt China exports: Bloomberg

The news: US officials pressured Dutch chipmaking equipment provider ASML Holdings to cancel shipments to China, weeks before the Netherlands own import bans were set to take effect, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The numbers: ASML had licenses to export three advanced deep ultraviolet lithography machines to China until Dutch restrictions took effect in January. The company cancelled the orders following requests from US officials, unnamed sources told Bloomberg. It is unclear how many orders for the devices, which can cost tens of millions of dollars, were cancelled.

The context: The US government has been trying to restrict China's ability to build advanced semiconductors, citing national security concerns. It recently introduced restrictions on the type of microchips that could be exported to China, forcing chip giant Nvidia to build less powerful chips exclusively for the Chinese market. In 2019 the US government, under former President Donald Trump, pushed the Dutch government to ban sales of ASML's top-of-the-line extreme ultraviolet lithography machines to China.