From Tom's Hardware: ASML, a Dutch company renowned as the only one that can produce the latest photolithography machines for fabricating cutting-edge chip designs, is under fire for selling chip fabrication hardware to a Chinese defence firm with ties to the ruling party, as reported by Nos. Although ASML claims that the technology it sold to Chinese chip manufacturers was old and not able to "produce state-of-the-art chips," analysts have still raised concerns over its dealings with a firm developing quantum technologies, which could have implications for military technology development and deployment.
The Dutch government has long been aware of the risks posed by China's access to chip design software and manufacturing hardware. That's partly why there's been such fallout recently around Chinese involvement with Dutch chip firm, Nexperia. But Dutch firm ASML may have had far greater dealings with Chinese businesses, and it's raising more than a few red flags.
Nos claims that the business that purchased the ASML chip manufacturing component was a division of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), a Chinese state-owned company that is a key component in the country's military industrial complex, producing key equipment for rocket systems and drones. It has also reportedly worked on the Chinese space program and fabricates chips for military use.
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