The Dutch government has taken the unusual step of sending Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma to Washington to lobby against proposed US legislation that could severely restrict sales by ASML, Europe’s most valuable company and the world’s sole manufacturer of the advanced lithography machines used to produce cutting-edge AI chips.
Sjoerdsma met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and members of Congress to voice opposition to the MATCH Act, a bill introduced in April that would extend existing chip export controls to include ASML’s deep ultraviolet immersion machines — the older-generation tools China is currently still permitted to purchase. Existing restrictions already bar ASML’s most advanced extreme ultraviolet equipment from reaching Chinese buyers.
China represents 19% of ASML’s net system sales, making the proposed legislation a material threat to the company’s revenue. Sjoerdsma described his visit as exceptional in its directness, warning that the stakes for the Netherlands could be very high.
ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet has previously noted that what China can currently acquire amounts to decade-old technology, underscoring the Dutch position that further restrictions offer limited strategic benefit while imposing significant economic costs on European industry.
The MATCH Act has not yet faced a full congressional vote and would likely require folding into a broader legislative package to advance.
