ASML shares fall after proposed U.S. export curbs target an already fragile China market

In this article ASML-NL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT onathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images ASML shares fell on Tuesday after U.S. lawmakers last week proposed further measures that would restrict China from additional chipmaking tools and potentially impact the Dutch chip giant's already fragile sales to the country. Shares of ASML in the Netherlands were down around 2.6% at around 6:11 a.m. ET. On Thursday, a group of bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware Act, designed to cut China off from chipmaking tools and target the country's most critical semiconductor firms. "While the United States has imposed extensive export controls to slow China's semiconductor indigenization, U.S. allies have not fully matched these measures. This misalignment has left critical gaps that China continues to exploit," said the office of Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., who led the bill, in a statement published on April 2. ASML was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. What is the impact on ASML? The U.S. has imposed various semiconductor export curbs on China over the last few years. Much of this has focused on the most advanced semiconductor technology. ASML makes extreme ultraviolet lithography machines that are required to manufacture the most advanced chips on the planet. ASML has never exported any of these machines to China. The Dutch firm also makes a deep ultraviolet lithography machine. DUV lithography machines are less advanced and are used to manufacture other types of semiconductors like memory chips, which are installed in everything from laptops to phones. Some of ASML's DUV machines have been subject to Dutch export licenses . The MATCH Act, if passed, would ban even ASML's DUV lithography machines, which can be used to make less advanced semiconductors and which, so far, China's biggest chipmakers have been able to purchase. watch now VIDEO 1:07 01:07 What's behind the l...