ASML, the Dutch company that holds a global monopoly on extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, is publicly refuting claims from US officials that one of its EUV systems may have ended up in China. The company went so far as to circulate a document titled “No indication of any ASML EUV system in China.”

The allegations surfaced following bilateral meetings between ASML executives and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in June 2026. Lutnick reportedly raised concerns about a potential unauthorized transfer of an EUV machine to a Chinese customer, a claim that quickly ricocheted through Reuters, Bloomberg, and other major outlets.

Why one machine matters this much

Each machine costs between $150 million and $400 million, contains over 100,000 components, and requires ongoing proprietary maintenance from ASML itself. ASML is the only company on the planet that makes these machines. EUV systems are essential for manufacturing the most advanced semiconductor chips, the kind powering AI training clusters, high-performance computing, and next-generation military applications.

The company has emphasized that its machines are produced in limited quantities and meticulously tracked. No concrete evidence supporting the alleged transfer has been provided by US officials.

The export controls chessboard

The Netherlands has prohibited EUV exports to China since 2019, a policy enacted under significant US pressure. ASML has confirmed shipping zero EUV machines to Chinese clients during that entire period.

Chinese firms can still acquire older deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems, though even those sales face increasingly rigorous controls. DUV technology can produce chips at older, less advanced nodes, but it can’t match what EUV enables at the bleeding edge of semiconductor design.

ASML’s customer list includes TSMC, Samsung, and Intel, all of which rely on the company’s EUV systems to manufacture their most advanced processors.

What this means for investors and the tech supply chain

For crypto market participants, the entire AI infrastructure buildout — which has become a major narrative driver for crypto projects focused on decentralized compute, GPU networks, and AI tokens — depends on advanced chip manufacturing. Projects like Render and Akash are indirectly tied to the same supply chain that ASML anchors.