A bill moving through the US Congress, the MATCH Act, would extend American export controls to allied chipmakers, letting Washington decide what firms in partner countries may sell to China, and ASML is the target. The proposed law would stop the Dutch firm selling, or even servicing, its deep ultraviolet (DUV) immersion lithography machines for Chinese customers. ASML is the world's only supplier of the most advanced chipmaking tools, and the Netherlands, not Washington, writes its export licences.
The Dutch Cabinet was in Washington for consultations when the bill surfaced on 24 June, and came away, in the word officials used afterwards, "irritated". ASML shares fell roughly 7% from their June high before recovering part of the drop. Washington also pressed an unconfirmed allegation that an ASML extreme ultraviolet (EUV) machine, the irreplaceable tool no chip below 7nm can be built without, had reached China without authorisation. ASML denied it, and the Netherlands has banned EUV exports to China since 2019.
ASML had already watched its Chinese business shrink under the existing DUV controls, its 2026 guidance landing €300m below analyst consensus. The MATCH Act tightens the screw a different way: it would let Washington override The Hague's own licensing and set Dutch trade policy by US statute. That runs against Pax Silica, the chip-coordination alliance the two governments had just deepened, in which the Netherlands had signed on as a partner rather than a subordinate.
