The European Union stands ready to coordinate a bloc-wide approach to export controls on advanced chips, following a decision by the Netherlands to restrict some of its supplies, according to a senior official.
(Bloomberg) — The European Union stands ready to coordinate a bloc-wide approach to export controls on advanced chips, following a decision by the Netherlands to restrict some of its supplies, according to a senior official.
“We are facing a rapidly evolving geopolitical and technological environment and risks coming from emerging technologies like high-end semi conductors, artificial intelligence, quantum, hypersonics, biotechnologies,” Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission, told reporters in Stockholm.
“In that environment could argue we need a stronger EU role to ensure coherence in our policy on security, trade and technology,” he said.
The purpose of export controls is to ensure that these types of “dual-use technologies” — which can be used both for civil and military purposes — don’t end up in wrong hands, he said, adding that Russia’s war in Ukraine highlighted the risks of addressing security concerns and controls without much coordination.
For all those reasons, Dombrovskis said the EU was ready to work with member states to develop an approach to export controls. In the short term, the EU could make full use of existing dual-use legislation and move toward a more coordinated approach. And after that, he said, it could look for ways to reinforce that framework to be in a better position to adopt EU-level export controls.
The Netherlands announced this week that it would further restrict some semiconductor machines from ASML Holding NV amid pressure from the US to clamp down on China’s access to the technology. While ASML has long been prevented from selling its most advanced technology — known as extreme ultraviolet lithography — the new measures will impact some of the company’s machines one generation behind, known as immersion DUV machines.
The Netherlands will provide the commission with its export controls and hopes they will be adopted by each of the 27 EU countries, according to the Dutch minister. EU countries can’t block the Dutch export controls, as they are a national security issue.
Liesje Schreinemacher, the Dutch trade minister, called for a joint European position to “show that we are one united European Union and that we are a geopolitical bloc.” Schreinemacher told reporters in Stockholm that the Netherlands has been in talks with Germany about the controls already, as the country is home to ASML suppliers Zeiss and Trumpf.
Dombrovskis said the EU would hold consultations with member states but declined to comment on initial informal feedback to the idea. “These are very sensitive matters,” he said.
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