ASML says China employee stole data as US sanctions bite • The Register

ASML has claimed {that a} former worker in China stole knowledge about its know-how, which can have led to a breach of export controls.

The Netherlands-based maker of photolithography gear for manufacturing semiconductors acknowledged in its annual report, launched as we speak, that it had skilled “unauthorized misappropriation of knowledge regarding proprietary know-how” by a former worker in China.

ASML doesn’t explicitly state what this data is, or whether or not it might help the Chinese language in trying to repeat the corporate’s know-how, however stated that primarily based on preliminary investigations, it didn’t imagine that the misappropriation is materials to its enterprise.

Nonetheless, the corporate stated that because of the safety incident, sure export management rules might have been violated, and ASML has due to this fact reported the incident to the related authorities.

Additionally within the annual report, ASML president and CEO Peter Wennink referred to experiences within the media that the US, Netherlands and Japan have agreed to additional prohibit the export of semiconductor manufacturing gear to China.

Wennink acknowledged that “the phrases of this settlement haven’t been publicly disclosed and stay confidential for now,” however added: “We perceive that steps have been taken that may cowl superior lithography instruments in addition to different sorts of gear.”

He stated that it might take many months for the governments concerned to attract up and enact new guidelines, however ASML didn’t anticipate these measures to have a fabric impact on its expectations for 2023.

ASML reported web gross sales and income each up in its earnings for Q4 of 2022, and stated on the time that it anticipated to see continued robust development throughout this 12 months.

Wennink additionally criticized the newest export restriction developments, saying that they are going to probably have a detrimental affect on advances in semiconductor know-how.

“On a geopolitical degree, the bifurcation of socio-economic blocks – with the related export and import controls – is threatening the event of the worldwide village that contributed a lot to a variety of the innovation now we have seen lately,” he stated. “If international locations or commerce blocks withdraw into their very own territories, then innovation will probably be much less efficient and dearer.”

That is echoed by China’s chip trade commerce physique, the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA), which acknowledged that if the reported restrictions turn into actuality they are going to “trigger severe hurt to the semiconductor trade in China, with detriment to the worldwide financial system, in addition to long-term damages to the pursuits of shoppers worldwide.”

The CSIA stated that it opposes the act of interfering in international commerce liberalization, distorting the stability of provide and demand, and likewise objected to “makes an attempt to exclude China’s semiconductor trade from the worldwide innovation system and free competitors market.”

In the meantime, Washington’s current sanctions are having an impact on the plans of Chinese language chipmakers to broaden their operations, in response to Nikkei Asia, which detailed issues affecting Yangtze Reminiscence Applied sciences Corp (YMTC) particularly.

The corporate has seen progress grind to a halt at a brand new semiconductor plant close to Wuhan, initially anticipated to begin manufacturing in late 2022, with the chipmaking gear but to be put in. This can be because of the departure of engineers from US chipmaking gear corporations that had been supporting YMTC’s growth plans.

Final week, the South China Morning Put up reported that YMTC has sharply in the reduction of on orders for manufacturing gear over latest months following the imposition of export controls by the US, and the corporate is alleged to be planning to layoff 10 % of its workforce. ®