ASML disagrees with allegations of Chinese espionage

ASML denies the corporate theft that occurred at its Brion subsidiary was part of a Chinese espionage operation. ‘The suggestion that we were somehow victim of a national conspiracy is wrong. The facts of the matter are that we were robbed by a handful of our own employees based in Silicon Valley, who had broken the law to enrich themselves. Some of the individuals happened to be Chinese nationals, but individuals from other nations were involved as well,’ says ASML CEO Peter Wennink in a written statement issued on Thursday.

‘We resent any suggestion that this event should have any implication for ASML conducting business in China. We do protect our proprietary knowledge carefully and are very sensitive to information security. We believe we can serve all our customers, including our Chinese customers, and help them build their businesses. We are encouraged by the recent constructive talks and agreements between the European Union and China that China will step up its efforts to respect and protect corporate intellectual property of non-Chinese companies, including effective enforcement actions. We will be even more encouraged when we see these materialize in Chinese law and jurisprudence,’ Wennink adds.