March 28, 2024
Today at
16:24
After chip machine maker ASML threatened to go abroad for its expansion plans, the Dutch government is investing heavily in the region where the company is located.
The Dutch government, together with regional governments, is investing 2.51 billion euros in the region around Eindhoven, where chip machine maker ASML
is located. Minister of Economy Micky Adriaansens reported this on Thursday. The gesture follows heavy lobbying from ASML, which threatened to move abroad for its expansion plans.
The money must serve several purposes: investments are made in the highways and rail connections to Eindhoven and in more and better trained technicians. In addition, thousands of new homes need to be built. The shortage on the electricity network is also being addressed. This has been a thorn in the side of the global player in the chip industry for some time.
ASML develops and builds high-tech machines for the production of the most advanced semiconductors. The company, co-founded by Philips in 1984, has grown into by far the most valuable Dutch company, with a market capitalization of 350 billion euros. Almost half of the more than 42,000 employees work at the headquarters in Veldhoven, west of Eindhoven.
Lazy and stupid
The chip company has major growth ambitions, but is encountering a series of obstacles in the Netherlands, from too few highly skilled employees to tightness on the housing market. Moreover, it opposes the plans of some politicians to scale back innovation support to companies and to tax the buyback of their own shares more heavily.
Earlier this month, CEO Peter Wennink came out hard against the government. “The Netherlands is lazy and stupid,” he said at the annual high mass of the Dutch tech industry, where he criticized the lackluster interest in growing and retaining innovative companies. He threatened to move to France or Germany, because ASML could count on a lot of subsidies there.
The Dutch government then launched Operation Beethoven to keep the chipmaker in the Netherlands. A special working group prepared the measures that were announced on Thursday. “These types of companies earn money for the Netherlands,” said Minister Adriaansens. The bulk of the money, about 1.7 billion euros, comes from the Dutch government and the rest comes from the Eindhoven region.
