"I think to make the case that this is about national security is getting harder and harder" said Christophe Fouquet

China was the only country to increase its year-on-year chip equipment purchases, with other major buyers like Taiwan, South Korea and the US all spending less

China has emerged as a significant buyer of ASML’s products — accounting for nearly half of its sales — in the first quarter of the year

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said The Hague was weighing up the consequences of more export restrictions on its leading tech outfit

Chinese chipmakers have escalated their purchases of ASML's machines used to make older generations of chips widely used in cars and smartphones

Washington has been lobbying the Dutch to prevent ASML from servicing some of the billions of euros worth of tools it has already sold to Chinese customers

From China's strategic alliance with Russia to chip equipment giant ASML's plans to move operations abroad — the Mark Rutte government will have a lot to consider as it makes a decision

The Chinese president also warned his Dutch counterpart against restricting chip ties with Beijing, amid increasing pressure from the United States

Washington is also pushing the Netherlands to stop ASML from maintaining and servicing equipment it sold to China before the Dutch chip export curbs came into effect

Local governments in Shanghai and Anhui will fund a variety of semiconductor-related projects this year — ranging from the development of DRAM chips to building facilities for chipmaking and its tools

ASML tools are used to make advanced semiconductors that can go into "high-value weapons systems and weapons of mass destruction,” a top Dutch official said

The largest supplier of equipment to computer chip makers said new competitors with 'substantial financial resources' and 'the ambition of self-sufficiency' were a business risk