Moolenaar Urges U.S. Engagement with the Netherlands to Close Export Control Loopholes

Chairman John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to pursue diplomatic engagement with the Dutch government to close a major loophole in the sale of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China. In his letter, Moolenaar highlighted recent reporting that the Dutch toolmaker ASML plans to begin shipments of certain advanced lithography systems to China by the end of 2026. 

“President Trump’s first administration rightly identified lithography exports as crucial to winning the AI and broader technology competition with China. By successfully pressing the Netherlands to halt ASML’s extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography shipments to the PRC, it secured what remains, by a wide margin, the single most important chokepoint in the U.S.–China technology competition. As a result, China cannot produce sub-7nm chips at scale, setting China back at least seven years behind the leading edge,” wrote Moolenaar.

“Now, ASML is exploiting a crucial loophole in our export control regime…I urge you to engage the Government of the Netherlands immediately to ensure that at minimum the NXT:1965i is treated no more permissively than ASML's more capable NXT:1980i at any Chinese fab. Absent this measure, these shipments will materially accelerate the PRC's production of AI chips at the chipmaking facilities most central to that effort,” added Moolenaar.

ASML is headquartered in the Netherlands and makes the most advanced semiconductor equipment in the world.

Read the letter here.