AMSTERDAM/FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Concerns about stricter export controls weighed partly on the share prices of chip industry equipment manufacturers on Wednesday afternoon. Aixtron shares in the MDax fell by 2.6 percent to 27.18 euros. ASML shares, meanwhile, were little impressed with a plus of 0.5 percent.

The Bloomberg news agency had previously reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the US government was urging countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea and Japan to further restrict China's access to semiconductor technology. However, this is meeting with resistance in some of these countries.

The Dutch ASML Group, for example, would be prohibited by the USA from repairing certain state-of-the-art chip production systems that customers in China had purchased before the corresponding sales restrictions were imposed on the systems.

In Germany, ASML supplier Carl Zeiss AG is one of the companies mentioned. According to the US, the German technology group should no longer send certain optical parts that are used to manufacture advanced electronic chips to China.

However, Aixtron is not mentioned by name in the Bloomberg report./mis/ck/jha/