April 30 (Reuters) - Dutch chip-making equipment

supplier ASM International has started local

production of tools for U.S. chipmakers in response to the U.S.

tariffs backdrop, its Chief Executive said on Wednesday.

"We've already started to manufacture some of the tools for

our customers in the U.S., just to get us started," CEO Hichem

M'Saad said a day after the company reported quarterly earnings.

"I think that our global installed base, our global

infrastructure, allows us to really have manufacturing in many

places - and Phoenix, Arizona, is one of them."

ASM is the most exposed to the U.S. market among European

peers such as ASML or BESI, with U.S. sales

accounting for 21% of its revenue last year.