“Operation Beethoven” is a success
Netherlands can apparently keep ASML at home
April 22, 2024, 9:20 p.m
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After the chip machine manufacturer ASML expressed criticism of Dutch politics and flirted with emigration, the government put together a billion-dollar package. This seems to have been fruitful. Investments are now being made at the headquarters.
With an infrastructure package worth billions, the Netherlands has prevented significant parts of its flagship company ASML from moving abroad. The world’s leading provider of machines for the production of state-of-the-art computer chips and the city of Eindhoven jointly announced that the “Brainport Industries Campus” (BIC) technology park there is to be expanded. A corresponding declaration of intent has already been signed.
“As previously stated, ASML prefers to keep its core activities in the Netherlands as close as possible to existing locations,” said ASML CFO Roger Dassen. His company has its headquarters in Veldhoven, which is just outside Eindhoven and in the immediate vicinity of the BIC. Around half of the approximately 42,000 ASML employees worldwide work at the headquarters, where the group’s products are designed and assembled.
A few weeks ago, the Dutch government announced under the name “Operation Beethoven” that it would invest 2.5 billion euros in educational institutions, transport and the power grid in the ASML home region of Eindhoven. The company’s boss, Peter Wennink, had previously complained about the inadequate infrastructure in the booming technology center of Eindhoven. He also criticized recent laws limiting immigration or the abolition of tax discounts for foreign skilled workers.
With a market value of around 328 billion euros, the most valuable European technology company is the world’s only provider of machines for producing the latest generation of high-performance chips. The buyers of these systems, which cost up to 350 million euros each and are the size of a double-decker bus, include all well-known Western chip manufacturers. Due to increasing demand, they want to significantly expand their production capacities in the coming years. ASML hopes that this will double its business in the medium term.