Jean-Marc Chery, the CEO of STMicroelectronics (first from the left), Jochen Hanebeck, the CEO of Infineon (second from the left), and Kurt Sievers, the CEO of NXP Semiconductors (third from the left) were at the seminar.
The CEOs of three major European computer chip manufacturers said on Monday that the demands of the US, Chinese and European governments for each region to have its own semiconductor production is an increasingly serious obstacle for enterprises.
After Donald Trump's re-election as US president, the CEOs of Infineon of Germany, STMicroelectronics of France and Italy, and NXP of the Netherlands made a rare joint appearance. They said that their businesses have been affected by uncertainty and the trend of nationalist industrial policies that emerged in the past decade.
"The danger is that we will accelerate this fragmentation," said Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon, at the Munich Electronics Conference. "Fragmentation is happening on the supply side, and with the implementation of tariffs, the situation could get worse," he said.
All three companies are major suppliers of chips for automobiles, power control and industrial use. Thanks to the booming Chinese electric vehicle market, their current businesses in China are all performing strongly. Except for the artificial intelligence chip market, other global chip markets are weak.
Jean-Marc Chery, CEO of STMicroelectronics, said that rebuilding supply and production chains on different continents to make "China for China and the West for the West" chips is costly in terms of materials and engineering. "So, congratulations to the new US president."
Kurt Sievers, CEO of NXP Semiconductors, said that no single country can dominate the chip industry or be independent of the rest of the world. "If that were possible, it would become so expensive that no consumer could afford any device that uses chips," he said. "I believe that over time, every government will understand this."
The remarks of the ASML CEO indicate growing concerns about US chip trade restrictions.
Earlier, remarks made by the ASML CEO also expressed a similar meaning.
According to Reuters, Christophe Fouquet, CEO of ASML, a leading Dutch chip equipment manufacturer, said earlier that the geopolitical situation indicates that the US will continue to exert pressure and impose stricter restrictions on ASML's exports to China. He said at the Bloomberg Technology Conference in London:
"One of the debates is, is this really about national security? Another debate is... is this helpful or harmful to us? I see many US companies starting to ask this question too." He pointed out that the Netherlands and Europe are debating whether further restrictions fall under national security or trade policy and whether these restrictions will work.
The concerns expressed by the ASML CEO not only reflect his personal and company concerns but also highlight the growing skepticism among company and industry stakeholders about the so-called "national security" claims. The US government uses such claims to impose trade restrictions on the semiconductor industry and disrupt normal cooperation within the supply chain.
It is no secret that the so-called "national security" arguments fabricated by some US politicians are baseless. Their aim is only to limit China's development in the semiconductor field and try to exclude China from global semiconductor industry cooperation. But this is doomed to fail.
Economic and trade cooperation is a basic principle of the economy and the market. Artificial geopolitical manipulation cannot impede the trend of development. However, the US is now trying to disrupt established industrial cooperation in the global semiconductor field. This is not only disadvantageous to the US but also has a negative impact on global semiconductor industry cooperation and will inevitably face increasingly strong resistance.
Take ASML as an example. It is closely connected with the global semiconductor industry chain, including China, and the interests of all parties are intertwined. Analyzing this industry chain, we can see a situation where everyone benefits.
In 2023, 29% of ASML's sales came from China. However, due to US interference in the company's normal trade relations with Chinese enterprises, the company expects that by 2025, the contribution of the Chinese market to its total revenue will drop to about 20%, CNBC reported on October 16.
The Chinese market has an irreplaceable significance for ASML, which is not only reflected in direct sales revenue but also related to the company's long-term development and global strategic layout. China is a huge market and a crucial link in the global supply chain. In the era of globalization, no company can ignore the influence of the Chinese market.
The Chinese semiconductor industry is in a stage of rapid development. Policy support at the national level and capital investment by enterprises have made the Chinese semiconductor industry chain increasingly complete. For ASML, this means more cooperation opportunities and greater market potential. At the same time, the rapid development of China in fields such as artificial intelligence and 5G communication also provides ample space for the application of high-end equipment such as lithography machines.
According to CNBC, Chris Miller, an assistant professor of international history at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, said: "China is a very important market for ASML... Most of these revenues come from older-generation chip manufacturing tools." Miller pointed out that most of ASML's exports to China focus on products with mature technologies and have little to do with national security issues. This is undoubtedly a powerful rebuttal to the wanton restrictions imposed by the US on ASML under the pretext of so-called "national security".
The US is suppressing the Chinese semiconductor industry under the guise of "national security", which is actually an act of economic bullying. This is an unfair treatment of Chinese enterprises and a disruption of the global semiconductor supply chain. The doubts of the ASML CEO also represent the sentiment of many enterprises. They hope to conduct business activities in a fair and stable environment rather than be influenced by US geopolitical manipulation.
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