China’s chip tool push shows ASML caught in US-China squeeze

China’s launch of a homegrown type of advanced lithography chip printing machine is spotlighting how European chip tool maker ASML, whose recent share price surge made it Europe’s most valuable listed company, is being squeezed between two sides.

On the one hand, US controls on exports of high-tech ​goods to China are threatening to reduce access to a major market; and on the other, Beijing’s push for technological independence in areas such as chip production raises the possibility of a China-based competitor.