Controls shift to chip‑making tools

U.S. lawmakers are trying to block more chipmaking tools from reaching China, including ASML machines that Chinese fabs still use. (usnews.com) The bill, introduced on April 2 and called the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware Act, or MATCH Act, would tighten export rules on semiconductor manufacturing equipment sold or serviced in China. Reuters reported the proposal targets immersion deep ultraviolet lithography, a category led by ASML, with Nikon as a smaller rival. (usnews.com) Lithography tools act like projectors for chip factories: they shine patterns onto silicon wafers so transistors can be built layer by layer. ASML’s most advanced extreme ultraviolet tools have never been shipped to China, but some older deep ultraviolet systems still have been. (cnbc.com) The draft law would go beyond machine sales. Reuters said it would also bar sales or servicing for leading Chinese chipmakers including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, Hua Hong, Huawei, ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies. (usnews.com) Washington has spent the past several years restricting finished advanced chips and the tools used to make the very smallest ones. The new proposal shifts attention toward equipment China still imports for less advanced production lines, including immersion deep ultraviolet systems used to draw chip circuitry. (usnews.com) The Netherlands already tightened this channel before Congress stepped in. ASML said in March 2023 that Dutch controls would require licenses for its most advanced immersion deep ultraviolet tools, and the Dutch government expanded that licensing requirement again effective September 7, 2024. (asml.com) (government.nl) China remains central to the business even with those restrictions. ASML said in January that China accounted for 33% of its 2025 sales, and it expected that share to fall to about 20% in 2026 before any new U.S. law took effect. (asml.com) (cnbc.com) The timing cuts against a booming market for chip tools. Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, the industry trade group, said worldwide semiconductor equipment billings rose 15% to $135.1 billion in 2025, with China still spending $49.3 billion, down just 0.5% from 2024. (semi.org) Asia dominated that spending surge. Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International said China, Taiwan and South Korea together made up 79% of the global equipment market in 2025, up from 74% a year earlier. (semi.org) ASML declined to comment to Reuters on the draft legislation, and the Dutch foreign ministry said it was not its place to comment on a bill proposed by lawmakers in another country. For now, the fight is moving from chips themselves to the factory tools that decide who can keep building them. (usnews.com)