On July 8th, Caijing reported that ASML's CEO Christophe Fouquet said that chip buyers, including the German auto industry, need Chinese chip makers' investments in traditional process chips.

Fouquet took over from retired Peter Wennink in April this year as ASML's new president and CEO. At the time of his statement, there were reports that the EU was seeking the views of the European chip industry on China's expansion of traditional process chip production capacity.

Traditional process chips, also known as mature process chips, generally refer to the previous generation of chips with a process size of 28 nanometers or more, which are widely used in daily technology products such as autos, washing machines, and medical devices.

"Especially in the auto industry, including the German auto industry, it needs chips manufactured with simpler and well-known technology," Fouquet said in an interview with the media.

According to Fouquet, global demand for traditional process chips is rising sharply, but the profit margin for manufacturing these chips is not high, and investment by Western companies is not enough. "Europe cannot even meet its own general needs," he said.

According to an estimate by industry organization SEMI, by 2025, the production capacity of Chinese chip makers will grow by 14%, reaching 10.1 million chips per month, accounting for about one-third of global total production.

"If someone wants to slow down the production speed of Chinese chip makers, for whatever reason, then an alternative solution is needed. It makes no sense to stop others from producing what you need," Fouquet said.

According to media reports, the scope of information sought by the EU in the European chip industry consultation exceeds that of the security investigation sent by the US Department of Commerce to US companies.

Last December, the US Department of Commerce announced that it would manage the information of traditional semiconductors produced in China to track the extent to which US companies rely on Chinese technology.

In response, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at the time that the formation and development of the global production and supply chain are the result of the combined effects of market rules and corporate choices and that artificially intervening in trade and economic issues and weaponizing them is a violation of market economy and fair competition principles that increases global production and supply chain security risks, ultimately damaging the interests of the whole world, including the United States itself. The US side should earnestly respect international trade rules and market economy principles and create favorable conditions for China-US trade and economic cooperation.