Chinese imports of the critical semiconductor equipment reached US$2.58 billion in the year through July, already more than the US$2.36 billion ASML projected.

China’s imports of Dutch lithography machines have surged this year, with the first seven months already surpassing ASML Holding’s previous forecast for 2023 sales to China, according to a new report, as Chinese firms stock up on the equipment ahead of new export curbs.

From January to July, Chinese imports of Dutch-made lithography machines, nearly all from chip equipment giant ASML, grew 64.8 per cent year on year to US$2.58 billion, Chinese semiconductor industry consultancy JW Insights said in a report published on Friday, citing China customs data.

In January, ASML projected that its sales to China this year would remain steady at about 2.2 billion euros (US$2.36 billion), or 14 per cent of its total annual revenue.

In July, China imported US$626 million worth of lithography machines from the Netherlands, nearly eight times larger than the same month last year, according to the report.

ASML has a near monopoly on the world’s most advanced lithography machines, which are required for the production of cutting-edge chips. Under US pressure, the company has cut off exports of its extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems to China.

  • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
    57·
    1 year ago

    I’ve got news for you: companies like Intel already install backdoors for western government to use.

    • InvertedParallax@lemm.eeEnglish
      51·
      1 year ago

      I’m well aware.

      Note how you don’t have to worry about them.

      China won’t be like that, because they aren’t like that for anything else. It’s a prison masquerading as a country.

      • RatherBeMTBEnglish
        44·
        1 year ago

        You are wrong about that, if anyone is a prison it is the US, the country with the largest prison population in the world.

      • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        1 year ago

        If China is a prison masquerading as a country, what does that make the US, which has the highest incarceration rate in the world, not just per capita but in total number (even with a much lower total population than China)?

        • InvertedParallax@lemm.eeEnglish
          71·
          1 year ago

          Better.

          Because we usually let people out.

          The exact numbers of people executed in China is classified as a state secret; occasionally death penalty cases are posted publicly by the judiciary, as in certain high-profile cases. One such example was the execution of former State Food and Drug Administration director Zheng Xiaoyu, which was confirmed by both state television and the official Xinhua News Agency. Other media, such as Internet message boards, have become outlets for confirming death penalty cases usually after a sentence has been carried out.

          Because of the inaccessibility to official statistics of the number of executions that occur within the death penalty system, academic researchers must use data compiled by NGOs such as Amnesty International, which is the most cited source of reports regarding rates of execution statistics. In 2009, Amnesty International counted 1718 executions as having taken place during 2008 (which equates to 0.0001%, or 1 in 1,000,000 of the Chinese population), based on all information available. Amnesty International believed that the total figure was likely to be much higher. According to “The Death Penalty in China: Reforms and Its Future”, “it also represents the most conservative estimate of death sentences and executions in China due to the following accounting rules: 1) when there is doubt of accuracy, figures were excluded; 2) where two conflicting reports existed, the lower figure was used; 3) when a combined figure of death sentences and prison sentences was given, only one death sentence was recorded; and 4) when a group was sentenced to death, only one sentence was entered.”

          Don’t bother, China is an evil country that’s indefensible, you can whatabout the US all you like, we have our problems, but we can also actually talk about them.

          • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
            15·
            1 year ago

            Yeah, because the US doesn’t have the death penalty at all. Are you joking?

              • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
                14·
                1 year ago

                I’m not defending execution, I’m just pointing out that it’s stupid to suddenly get mad about cheap products from China because the US propaganda machine says you should be mad at China NOW. You’ve mindlessly rattled off every propaganda talking point, from the fearmongering, to the claims of “whataboutism”, to the use of the “tankie” label. Why are you afraid of backdoors that China installs when you live in the US? If anything, the US backdoors would be worse for you since the US could actually get to you.