The U.S. government has told ASML Holding NV that it believes one of the Dutch company’s advanced chipmaking machines may have made its way to China, according to people familiar with the matter. The warning adds new pressure on the semiconductor equipment maker, which has long been barred from shipping its most advanced systems to Chinese customers.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick raised the issue in recent meetings with ASML’s senior leadership, according to the source material. The concerns focused on the company’s extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography tools, which are among the most sophisticated machines used in chip production.
ASML has never been permitted to sell EUV systems to China under export controls first put in place during the Trump administration. Those machines are critical to making advanced semiconductors and are used by leading chip manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to produce processors for companies including Nvidia and Apple.
The report suggests U.S. officials are now worried that one such machine may have been diverted to China in a possible breach of those restrictions. The source material does not say how the U.S. believes the equipment may have moved, or whether any formal enforcement action has been taken.
ASML disputed the implication that its technology had reached China illegally. The company denied the concern, according to the source material. No further details were provided about the basis of its denial.
The issue comes at a sensitive time for the semiconductor industry, where Washington has tightened export controls in an effort to prevent China from obtaining cutting-edge chipmaking capabilities. Equipment makers like ASML sit at the center of those restrictions because their tools are essential for building the most advanced chips.
For ASML, the prospect that one of its top-tier machines could have ended up in China would represent a significant compliance and geopolitical challenge. The company already faces limits on what it can sell into the Chinese market, and any evidence of unauthorized movement of restricted technology could intensify scrutiny from U.S. authorities.
The source material does not indicate whether other governments are involved in the matter or whether ASML has provided any public explanation beyond its denial. It also does not state whether the machine in question has been verified to be in China, only that U.S. officials said they were concerned it may have arrived there.
ASML’s lithography systems are among the most valuable tools in global chip manufacturing, and access to the most advanced versions is tightly controlled. The dispute underscores how export rules have become a central part of the broader contest between the U.S. and China over semiconductor technology.
For now, the development appears to be an early-stage concern rather than a confirmed violation. But the fact that U.S. officials raised the issue directly with ASML’s leadership signals that Washington is closely monitoring the movement of high-end chip tools as pressure on China continues to build.