It was only a matter of time before the Chinese started ramping up their own semiconductor capabilities. With all the inevitable industrial espionage involved, I wonder if the west really has that much of a head start in chip design.
Making a lithography machine that's on par with ASML is just an engineering challenge. One that's been solved once already by ASML, whose to say it can't be solved again by someone else, especially if they can copy bits of the design.
Things can be done a lot quickly if you are given an unlimited budget. Consider how quickly NASA got from nothing to landing on the moon, vs how long it is taking now with their much more limited budget.
that's a micron of the boot the global south are feeling daily. They have not even outright taking your stuff while forcing you to pay for the gun they pointed at your face yet
The US sold patents to ASML under the condition that they would listen. The patents are from US publicly funded universities. Invent your own tech and you can export it anywhere you want
The Dutch government is ultimately making the decisions, they could remove all export restrictions if they wanted but that would really sour its relationship with the US gov't.