Netherlands to soon roll out semiconductor export control measures: Report

Netherlands will soon join the United States and Japan in rolling out new semiconductor export control measures aimed at keeping sensitive technology away from China due to concern for potential misuse, the country's economic affairs minister told reporters on a visit to Washington, Voice of America (VOA) reported.

As per VOA, the measures are likely to further restrict sales to China by Netherlands-based ASML, maker of the world's most advanced chip-printing machines, which last year disclosed the "unauthorized misappropriation of data" by a now former employee in China.

The US in October 2022, announced its own export control measures affecting advanced computing integrated circuits and certain semiconductor manufacturing items.

The country said the measures were aimed at items that "could provide direct contributions to advancing military decision making" such as "designing and testing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), producing semiconductors for use in advanced military systems, and developing advanced surveillance systems that can be used for military applications and human rights abuses."

Allies including Japan and the Netherlands were then asked by the US to introduce similar measures.

Netherlands' minister of economic affairs and climate, Micky Adriaansens, told a group of journalists on June 8 at the Dutch Embassy in Washington: "The main concern is [the chip-making technology] will be used in military products."

Adriaansens acknowledged that negotiations with Washington have not been easy.

"To be honest, the conversation has been intense, and is still intense," she said. "But we agreed already upon the main issues, with a good [mutual] understanding of what is the right thing to do."

Adriaansens said those understandings still have to be translated into regulations but that her country understands the importance of the measures, as per VOA.

"We realize that we, the U.S., the Netherlands, Japan and Korea, are very strong in the semicon[ductor] value chain, supply chain, and we have a responsibility there," the minister said, echoing a statement made by Japan's trade minister in March.