The global IT systems outage that ASML, a manufacturer of computer chip equipment, experienced on Friday has been fixed, according to a company representative.
TakeAway Points:
- Computer chip equipment maker ASML had a global IT systems outage on Friday, which has been resolved, a spokesperson for the company said.
- The top manufacturers of semiconductor equipment worldwide, including KLA, LAM, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and ASML, are being urged by China hardliners in Congress to submit information about their sales to China.
- Republican John Moolenaar and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi sent letters to the companies on Thursday.
- Washington fears that progress in Chinese chipmaking capabilities, fueled by U.S., Dutch and Japanese equipment sales, is fueling the modernization of China’s military.
Global IT outage fixed
Computer chip equipment maker ASML revealed that the global IT systems outage that occurred on Friday has been resolved.
“All systems are fully recovered,” the company said, adding that the cause of the outage is currently being investigated.
According to the report, the outage, which caused some employees to work remotely, was first reported by Dutch newspaper Eindhovens Dagblad.
ASML — one of the foremost semiconductor equipment makers in the world — last month prematurely released its third-quarter earnings during trading hours, half a day earlier than scheduled, attributing the incident to a “technical error.”
ASML supplies chip making equipment to companies such as Samsung Electronics and TSMC, which makes chips for Nvidia.
US lawmakers press top chip equipment makers for details on China sales
China hardliners in Congress are calling on the world’s foremost semiconductor equipment makers – KLA, LAM, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and ASML – to provide details of their sales to China.
Republican John Moolenaar and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi sent letters to the companies on Thursday, according to a Friday press release, amid pushback against expected U.S. rules that crack down further on tool shipments to China.
“We understand that some (toolmakers) believe we should limit the expansion of… future unilateral U.S. controls due to perceived impacts on the competitiveness of this sector,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, enhanced export controls simply are not mutually exclusive with a robust and thriving (toolmaking) industry,” they added.
However, the report stated that U.S. firms KLA, LAM, and Applied Materials, as well as Japan-based Tokyo Electron and Dutch ASML, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rising concerns
But the letters come amid opposition even from Democrats to the Biden administration’s long-delayed next round of export regulations, aimed at further stymying Beijing’s access to toolmaking equipment.
According to the report, Washington fears that progress in Chinese chipmaking capabilities, fueled by U.S., Dutch and Japanese equipment sales, is fueling the modernization of China’s military.
But it has struggled to bring allies Japan and the Netherlands on board with another round of upcoming measures, leading U.S. industry to fear that U.S. companies will be unfairly harmed by them.
In an August letter, California Democrats argued that a further round of export controls “could send longstanding U.S. companies into a death spiral,” because U.S. allies have not imposed similarly aggressive China export curbs on their own companies.
