Does China have the EUV machine that powers AI? ASML and the US disagree
us commerce secretary howard lutnick suspects an asml euv lithography machine is in china, violating export controls, though asml denies it. this dispute threatens the enforcement of the ai hardware blockade designed to contain chinese military advancements.
us officials claim to have evidence that asml shipped an euv lithography system—the only tool capable of manufacturing cutting-edge ai chips—to china, potentially violating export controls established during the trump administration. asml ceo christophe fouquet denied the presence of euv machines in china, citing strict tracking and internal firewalls that separate china-based staff from euv technology, while warning that risking the firm's export license would jeopardize nearly one-fifth of its 2026 revenue. the dispute centers on us allegations that asml sent euv components and transport equipment to china, which would undermine the multi-year effort to starve china's military and industrial base of advanced ai compute. while the us has not publicly released its evidence, the accusation pressures asml's monopoly status and highlights the vulnerability of the ai supply chain to geopolitical enforcement gaps.