The Netherlands is a small country in Europe, but the Netherlands has a pivotal position in the field of trade, in fact, the Netherlands also has a place in the high-tech field, especially in the chip industry chain. At present, most of the lithography machines used in chip manufacturing come from the Netherlands, and because of this, the Netherlands has become an important ally of the United States to actively encircle and contain China. As soon as the bell rings in the New Year in 2024, the Netherlands has already made a big move, and the Dutch government has issued an announcement announcing the cancellation of the export licenses of NXT:2050i and NXT:2100i lithography machines.
The Dutch government is under the guise of so-called "national security", openly supporting the United States sanctions against China, in order to prevent China from developing high-tech, the United States began a chip war against China in 2019, in addition to prohibiting the supply of high-end chips to China, it is also encircling and curbing the development of China's chip industry, during which there is a ban on the export of key production equipment, mainly the Dutch lithography machine system. The lithography machine restricts the improvement of the chip manufacturing process, so as long as the lithography machine is stuck in China's neck, the development of China's chip industry can be curbed to the greatest extent, so the United States requires the Netherlands to control the export of lithography machines.
The Netherlands is a sovereign and independent country, but in the export of lithography machines, the Netherlands has to obey the arrangements of the United States, highlighting the influence of the United States on the Netherlands. The Netherlands has banned the export of EUV series lithography machines to China before, and in recent years, the Netherlands has also been pressing forward with DUV series lithography machines, and has begun to cancel the export licenses of many models. In fact, it can be seen from the secret agreement signed by the United States, Japan and the Netherlands in early 2023 that the United States is going to impose sanctions on China in the field of chips, because the lithography machines that the United States prohibits the Netherlands from exporting are no longer used for high-end chip manufacturing, but traditional mid-range chip manufacturing equipment.
The Dutch government has already announced the sanctions plan in August 2023, announcing export controls on a number of lithography machines. For the cancellation of the export license of the NXT:2050i and NXT:2100i lithography machines, the Dutch manufacturer publicly announced that it will not have a significant impact on the company's revenue. In fact, China is now the world's largest chip market, but also the main producer of chip products, for which China needs a large number of chip production equipment, when China's chip industry is developing, the Netherlands has to follow the United States to jam China's neck, obviously to get along with their own business rhythm, the Netherlands perverse to prevent the development of China's chip industry, and will eventually encounter backlash, because the Netherlands cannot monopolize lithography machine technology forever.
The United States is very confident that as long as it restricts the development of China's chip industry, it can stop the development of China's high-tech, so it has encircled and contained China in the field of chips. Obviously, sanctions are a double-edged sword, when the United States sanctioned China, South Korea has been hurt a lot, the chip industry is the pillar of South Korea's economy, when the United States launched the chip war, South Korea was willing to become cannon fodder, which directly led to South Korea's foreign trade deficit. After South Korea suffered a "severe blow", the Netherlands is still full of confidence, and it is obvious that it will pay the price.