Good for them, but I doubt this will be the last we hear about this especially with the current US government. ASML was only permitted to acquire US company Cymer (the actually valuable EUV light source technology) back in 2013 under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement.
The Netherlands blocking a US acquisition due to technology control concerns is sure to ruffle some feathers in Washington.
This is not some sort of company making unique tech, it's a company handling some of the most the vital infrastructure for our government, you can imagine the privacy concerns. Completely different case
Sure, but the point is that it's tit-for-tat. This US administration is petty.
All the more reason to block vital stuff going to the US. They cannot be trusted anymore.
True, but the question is if it isn't smarter to wait for the midterms in November where it currently looks like it's going to be a disaster for Trump and the Republicans.
Sale was happening soon, couldn't wait longer, IIUC.
> This
I don't think it's changing after this administration.
True. But the reaction also depends on how much money the leverage is worth and how much Solvinity has to offer here.
This is a huge detail that further complicates the picture, ASML's lithography technology heavily benefitted from United States DOE research:
> In 1997, ASML began studying a shift to using extreme ultraviolet. Two years later, it joined a consortium, which included Intel and two other U.S. chipmakers, in order to exploit fundamental research conducted by the US Department of Energy. Because the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) it operates under is funded by the US government, licensing must be approved by Congress.
In 2013, the same deal would likely have gone through. US-Dutch relations looked very different in 2013 under Obama than they look now under second-term Trump. Any reciprocity today based on things Obama did back then falls flat because we all know Trump opposes nearly everything Obama ever did
Absolutely, no one would have batted an eyelid.
>the actually valuable EUV light source technology
ASML brought Cymer in house because it couldn't make the tech they needed and they needed to dump resources and engineers on the project of a supplier to make what they needed actually happen. Cymber could only accomplish 10W EUV lights, while ASML needed 250W sources, so they bought the company to actually execute on what they needed. And there were other sources that ASML could have flipped to.
They literally bought it because it failed to do what they needed. Somehow loads of Americans, in that fun American exceptionalism way, want to rewrite the world where really ASML is just some magical US tech in a trench coat, because everything somehow owes its existence to Americans.
>especially with the current US government
The US government has forced every American company to cease work with any judge or employee of the ICC, all in defence of America's boss Israel. This alone should see every American company ousted from every foreign nation. The idea of giving an American domiciled firm control over domestic infrastructure tech is insane (like, treasonous level), and anyone pushing this needs to be fully investigated. Similarly, the fact that the UK keeps implementing garbage from Palantir is clear evidence that the country is utterly busted and needs a massive civil service overhaul.
This is all quite aside from the various tantrums, grotesque levels of corruption, and openly threatening allies.
I'm sure it will "ruffle some features", but it turns out the US blew its load already. Absolutely no one cares what that idiocracy's cabal of pedos, halfwits and self-dealing criminals throw a tantrum about anymore. At this point the US should be punted from NATO, every base closed, and everyone should just nuke up.