MATCH Act

The MATCH Act (Modernising America's Technology Controls and Halting China Act) is a bipartisan US Congressional bill introduced on 2 April 2026, sponsored by members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It would ban the sale and servicing of deep ultraviolet (DUV) immersion lithography equipment to Chinese chipmakers, extending the 2022-23 restrictions that already cover extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machines. The bill's principal target is ASML, the Dutch company that holds a global monopoly on EUV and dominates DUV supply; Chinese chipmakers have been scaling DUV-based production to compensate for the EUV ban, and the MATCH Act would close that route.

The bill escalated into a live transatlantic confrontation on 24 June 2026, when the Dutch Cabinet Left Washington consultations describing itself as "irritated". The Dutch objection is structural: the Netherlands has enforced a unilateral EUV export ban since 2019, and the MATCH Act would effectively assert US jurisdiction over Dutch industrial policy by requiring ASML to obtain American approval for DUV export licences that currently fall under Dutch and EU competence. The same week Washington alleged an unauthorised ASML EUV machine had reached China; ASML denied it. ASML shares fell roughly 7% from their June high before partially recovering.

ASML's own guidance suggests the bill has not yet dented demand or altered its China posture. Reporting Q2 2026 results on 15 July, ASML posted €9.3bn in net sales, raised its full-year guidance to €43-45bn for the second time in two quarters, and confirmed 86 systems shipped against 67 a year earlier, with China still accounting for roughly 20% of full-year sales. Notably, ASML dropped the export-control hedge language it had carried in its Q1 guidance, and is adding 30% more low-NA EUV capacity for 2027, a signal the company is not pricing in the MATCH Act passing in its current form.

The MATCH Act is the first proposed expansion of ASML-related export controls since September 2024. If enacted, it sets a precedent for Washington directing the commercial decisions of a foreign-headquartered, allied-government-backed monopoly in a sector defined as strategically critical by both the EU and NATO. The EU Commission has not taken a formal position; the Netherlands is pressing its case bilaterally rather than through multilateral EU channels.