(Central News Agency) The Dutch government today called on semiconductor manufacturers in the Netherlands to take further action to prevent the chips they make from ending up in Russian hands, which would violate international sanctions.

A report by the Dutch Broadcasting Foundation (NOS), which is part of the Dutch public broadcasting system, found that since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, millions of Dutch-made chips have ended up in Russian hands, mostly through China. middlemen.

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Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra told parliament the situation was "quite embarrassing".

Semiconductor makers active in the Netherlands include NXP Semiconductors and Nexperia, owned by Chinese firm Wingtech.

"I'm sure these companies have done a lot, but they can do more," Hoekstra said.

Bloomberg reported that the United States has completed negotiations with Japan and the Netherlands to reach an agreement on restricting the export of some advanced chip manufacturing equipment to China.

Esmer Holdings said on the 28th that it is aware of the progress of the agreement.

ASML, a major supplier of chip production equipment, has been restricted since 2019 from selling state-of-the-art products to China, Reuters reported.

Since then, tensions between the U.S. and China over semiconductors have risen, prompting Washington to impose a near-total ban on semiconductor exports to China last October.

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