Any Chinese firm trying to develop EUV lithography would have to start from scratch. It would have to close the gap with ASML’s billions of dollars, decades of experience, and the accumulated experience and tacit knowledge of their tens of thousands of employees. China has ordered its first EUV, machine, reports Digitimes. Developed over 20 years of sustained R&D, our machines are now gearing up to power the next 20. Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Shailesh Kuber, Kirsten DonovanHe confirmed that the company was still waiting for approval to ship the order to China, but estimated the financial impact of the delay on the company as “zero”.ASML CEO Peter Wennink on Wednesday confirmed that the company had requested but not received permission to send a machine with “Extreme Ultraviolet”, or EUV, technology to a Chinese customer, understood to be SMIC.ASML has a near-monopoly in making lithography systems, giant 150 million euro machines used to print chip circuitry, but the Dutch government has withheld permission for the company to export one of its most advanced technologies to China.ASML shares, which have more than doubled over the past year as its customers announced plans to invest heavily in new chipmaking capacity, traded 0.5% higher at 272.6 euros at 1311 GMT.“If we cannot ship to customer A or country B, we’ll ship it to customer C and country D,” he said.Reuters reported earlier this month that the delay came after a campaign of pressure from the Trump administration to stop China getting hold of a machine required to make the world’s fastest microprocessors, but which also has military applications.“We need to abide by the law, and if we want to ship a certain technology...we need to go to our government and apply for an export license,” he told Reuters in an interview.Despite problems shipping cutting-edge equipment, ASML regularly sends previous-generation technology to China, where customers such as TSMC, Intel and Samsung have manufacturing facilities.He added that the market for logic chips used in smart phones and 5G telecommunications networks was expected to remain strong, while customers were starting to see the first signs of recovery in the memory chip market.Wennink said that any machines destined for, but not sent to, China would eventually be sold elsewhere as global demand for computer chips grows.Earlier on Wednesday ASML reported fourth quarter net profit of 1.13 billion euros ($1.25 billion), up 43% from the same period of 2018 as sales rose 29% to 4.04 billion euros.ASML forecast sales of 3.1-3.3 billion euros in the first quarter and announced a new 6 billion euro share buyback program through 2022.Chinese customers accounted for 12% of ASML’s total sales in 2019, down from 19% the previous year, with Wennink saying that was due to general weakness in end-market demand for memory chips, rather than restrictions on ASML’s technology. There is little chance a Chinese company will make an EUV lithography machine in the foreseeable future.Sign up for updates from TechStreamTomorrow’s tech policy conversations today EUV equipment from ASML ASML of the Netherlands, the world's only producer of EUV exposure equipment saw its net profit in the second quarter of 2020 double from a year ago. Trade between the United States and China has made both countries wealthier, but the United States has always recognized that some objects are too dangerous to trade freely. The licensing issue concerns their first-ever EUV order from a customer in China, where few companies are at the stage of ordering the cutting-edge technology. ASML mostly ships the machines, which cost roughly 150 million euros, to the U.S., Korea and Taiwan.Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.Read more: China Stockpiles U.S. Chips as ‘Silicon Curtain’ DescendsASML also announced a share buy-back program of as much as 6 billion euros over three years, as it said it expects to win 4.5 billion euros in EUV revenue this year.ASML shares rose 0.2% at 1:14 p.m. in Amsterdam trading.“Someone needs to make those chips and to make those chips you would need EUV, and there is basically only one place where they can get it,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio, referring to its advanced lithography equipment.