Senate Bill Would Ban US Exports of DUV Chipmaking Equipment to China Under MATCH Act

A US Senate bill would ban the export of deep ultraviolet lithography equipment to China, targeting a category of chipmaking machinery that has become central to China's domestic semiconductor buildout as the country's imports of such equipment grew from $10.7 billion in 2016 to approximately $51.1 billion in 2025, NBC News reported. The legislation, called the MATCH Act, would tighten existing restrictions on the sale of DUV lithography machines -- the workhorses of semiconductor manufacturing for chips produced at older but still widely used process nodes. While the most advanced extreme ultraviolet machines made by ASML are already restricted from export to China, DUV equipment from ASML and other manufacturers has continued to flow to Chinese chipmakers. China's semiconductor industry, including SMIC and a growing ecosystem of domestic chip designers, has relied heavily on DUV equipment to expand domestic production capacity. The surge in imports of chipmaking equipment over the past decade reflects Beijing's strategic investment in building a self-sufficient chip manufacturing base. US policymakers and intelligence officials have argued that continued DUV equipment sales allow China to build chip capacity that, while not producing leading-edge logic chips, is sufficient for a wide range of military and commercial applications including AI inference chips, communications hardware, and sensors. The bill faces uncertain prospects in the Senate. ASML and other semiconductor equipment manufacturers have lobbied against expanding restrictions, arguing that cutting off DUV sales will damage their revenues while accelerating Chinese domestic equipment development. The Netherlands, where ASML is headquartered, has also been cautious about aligning fully with US export control ambitions.