News ASML may be looking to leave the Netherlands — but the Dutch government is desperate to keep it there

[Admin]

The Dutch government is working on a plan to prevent ASML from leaving the country.

ASML may be looking to leave the Netherlands — but the Dutch government is desperate to keep it there : Read more

 

[TechLurker]

I wonder if ASML has plans to expand further in the US and Japan. Esp. to get in on some of the US subsidies being given out right now to expand chip R&D and manufacturing. Same for Japan.

 

[peachpuff]

A significant portion of ASML's workforce, about 40%, consists of labor migrants.

Leaving the country because you can't get cheap labor? Color me shocked...

 

[coolestcarl]

Leaving the country because you can't get cheap labor? Color me shocked...

Im sorry to burst your bubble, but high skilled labour is not cheap. Here in Wales companies have turned down opening high tech offices because the number one problem is lack of truly high skilled labour. The Welsh government have offered generous subsidies and yet there are no takers. And this industry is very high skilled. Its no surprise that Indians are the richest ethnic group in the US. A huge number of them are employed in high tech jobs. The US congress even recently (within the last few months) passed a resolution acknowledging the contributions of Indians, in particular those from high tech fields, that have driven the US engineering prowess over the past decades. Immigrants does not always mean cheap. If its for manual labour, I agree. But certainly not in the high skills arena. China regularly tries to poach "immigrant" staff for its high tech endevours. I personally know of approaches that have been made with BIG money to various top tier Indian universities in order to claim this very tiny pool of talent.

 

[Newoak]

The western media sees every article as an opportunity for leftist propaganda. The reality is most high tech companies have been moving to south east asia, every single nation of which allows zero immigrants in, outside of Singapore which clearly prefers south east asians.
The west and its universities inspire none to invest in the future of teaching diversity students how gender is a social construct. In G-d I trust.

 

[Co BIY]

It's very hard for such a huge business with global reach to stay in such a small country.

The people in the Netherlands are very highly educated but it is a small country of only 17.5 Million people.

"Ultimately, we can only grow this company if there are enough qualified people. We prefer to do that here, but if we cannot get those people here, we will get those people in Eastern Europe or in Asia or in the United States. Then we will have to go there,"

Wennink was speaking purely about where ASML can grow and expand in the future. He emphasized he was not referring to the Veldhoven company possibly moving headquarters.

https://nltimes.nl/2024/01/25/asml-...etherlands-dutch-sharply-restrict-immigration

 

[Foeke]

Leaving the country because you can't get cheap labor? Color me shocked...

They don't need cheap labor. They need the very best. And many of them.
Non of them earn less then 6 digits.
Just like many other western countries the Dutch have way to many elderly. We need immigants to keep our way of living.

 

[Foeke]

Funny detail, ASML started as part of Phillips. Phillips saw it as a distraction and cut it of.
With hindsight it was probably Phillips move out of Eindhoven to Amsterdam that led to their downfall.
They completely underestimated the supporting structures that grew around them.
It would be very ironic if ASML didn't learn from this.

 

[parkerthon]

Leaving the country because you can't get cheap labor? Color me shocked...

What paltry sum do these immigrants make exactly? Have you considered that Taiwan isn’t some back water under developed country and has the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing economy in the world that the dutch couldn’t even dream of? The home of all the customers and manufacturing this company sells their insanely advanced technology? This isn’t bussing some poor people over to be janitors. This is cutting edge technology manufacturing engineering work that the entire chip making industry’s advancement is currently paced by. Could that question be any more loaded with western arrogance?

Also, obligatory South Park.

 

[bit_user]

I wonder if ASML has plans to expand further in the US and Japan. Esp. to get in on some of the US subsidies being given out right now to expand chip R&D and manufacturing. Same for Japan.

I know they already have R&D offices in the US. Given that they have 7 locations in Japan, it's probably a good bet they have some R&D there, too.

Their website claims they have 39k employees across 60 locations.

• https://www.asml.com/en/careers
• https://www.asml.com/en/company/about-asml/locations

BTW, I think this article is about the location of their headquarters. You don't need to be US-headquartered to receive US CHIPS grants. Recall that TSMC and Samsung were among those competing for it.

 

[bit_user]

The west and its universities inspire none to invest in the future

I had to LOL at you starting such a post by complaining about propaganda! The science & tech universities in the west are still some of the best in the world, which is why people still keep coming from around the world to study at them.

 

[35below0]

Hating on immigrants makes them not like to work in the country?
Hmm...

Why can't more European countries take a page out of Switzerland's book? They don't care a rat's arse that over half the CEOs and top earners are ferners who don't like cows and mountains. Swiss people don't own Swiss companies? They don't have to.
Plenty of Swiss people that can do the whole "being Swiss" thing. Y'all just do the "pumping money into the economy" thing. And hopefully retire rich instead of poor!

Their reaction to foreigners is "Great! We've managed to attract more!"
What a silly country.

 

[Ritesh Tripathy]

Leaving the country because you can't get cheap labor? Color me shocked...

This is why quality education is important. Otherwise, you end up like "peachpuff".

 

[Co BIY]

BTW, I think this article is about the location of their headquarters. You don't need to be US-headquartered to receive US CHIPS grants. Recall that TSMC and Samsung were among those competing for it.

That's what the headline would make you think but that is not is what ASML has been considering according to the news articles. They are looking at expanding operations into France primarily, but the CEO also mentioned the USA, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.

The other referenced large Netherlands companies, Unilever and Shell, that "moved headquarters" were actually always English-Dutch companies with dual headquarters. Both consolidated to a single headquarters and chose London heavily influenced by the ability to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

 

[Co BIY]

Hating on immigrants makes them not like to work in the country?
Hmm...

Why can't more European countries take a page out of Switzerland's book? They don't care a rat's arse that over half the CEOs and top earners are ferners who don't like cows and mountains. Swiss people don't own Swiss companies? They don't have to.
Plenty of Swiss people that can do the whole "being Swiss" thing. Y'all just do the "pumping money into the economy" thing. And hopefully retire rich instead of poor!

Their reaction to foreigners is "Great! We've managed to attract more!"
What a silly country.

Switzerland is pretty famous for their "Blood laws" that prevent immigrants from obtaining citizenship.

Complaints about immigrants are rarely about those making six figures working for international companies but those that make the streets of formerly orderly and safe cities places people can no longer go.

 

[thth]

This probably has more to do with US sanctions on China rather than Dutch immigration laws. Their share of revenue from China is bigger than US and EU combined. The way US sanctions keep escalating, they are likely to completely lose the China market. If they setup up shop in some neutral country they could work around some of the US sanctions.

 

[TechLurker]

This probably has more to do with US sanctions on China rather than Dutch immigration laws. Their share of revenue from China is bigger than US and EU combined. The way US sanctions keep escalating, they are likely to completely lose the China market. If they setup up shop in some neutral country they could work around some of the US sanctions.

IIRC (and someone can correct me; I'm just regurgitating what I've read in some obscure technical blog posts; it's hard trying to find details on the EUV legalities); the problem is that the licensing to EUV tech is still held by the US (thanks to CRADA and the EUV LLC), and the US could choose to yank it and give it to a rival, preventing ASML from being able to continue manufacturing EUV machines. Sure, it'd take decades to build up the same degree of proficiency with EUV tech that ASML has built, but with the US sharing a lot of the secret sauce and the potential sales value, there are certain rival companies that would be willing to jump at the chance, notably the Japanese duo Nikon and Canon.

Which would force ASML back to DUV developments or develop alternatives to EUV like what Japan has been doing to notable success across both. In the DUV market, ASML has lost most of the DUV sales ground to Nikon, who's pretty much the leader in DUV exports given their continued refinement of the technology while ASML has pursued EUV, and Canon is pushing Nanoimprint Lithography as a cheaper EUV alternative while operating at similar scales.