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Comment by petcat | Hacker News Reader

The US government already exerts extensive control over ASML's business. The Netherlands can't leverage it in any kind of strategic way because a large part of the technology itself is American and it's very hard to untangle. It's the true definition of a "multi national" company.

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Do they exert any physical control (i.e. parts are made and shipped from North America), or is it just "Intellectual Property" and legal agreements that can be ignored?

This is an honest question, I'm trying my best to word it to not sound like a troll.

Yes the EUV/DUV light source itself is researched, developed, and manufactured in California.

ASML was permitted to acquire Cymer in 2013 during the Obama administration under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement with the US government.

The R&D, technology, manufacturing, and all other operations had to remain in the US.

https://www.asml.com/en/company/about-asml/cymer

Thanks, very interesting!

Do you happen to know how they compare to Trumpf the German laser manufacturer?

>a large part of the technology itself

A tiny fraction of the technology itself started as an ineffective "American" invention, copying a Japanese discovery/invention. In fact when ASML acquired the company, specifically because it couldn't do what they wanted and they needed to vastly improve it, a Japanese company had a superior product in the same space, but ASML saw the Japanese company as too much political baggage given how protectionist the Japanese often are.

How funny it all turned out, right?

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