ASML sells zero chipmaking machines in Europe, executive warns
ASML currently sells no chipmaking machines in Europe, executive says
ASML, the only maker of advanced lithography machines used by TSMC and Samsung, currently sells no chipmaking equipment in Europe, according to public affairs executive Frank Heemskerk. He warns Europe is falling behind as the US, China, and India invest heavily in domestic semiconductor production. The EU's Chips Act has so far failed to spur new factories, and the European Court of Auditors doubts the bloc will double its global chip market share by 2030.
We are not selling anything in Europe at all. That is because Europe is not investing, and no chip factories are being built here.
- bsoqk
> So far, however, the law has done little to spur the construction of new semiconductor factories in Europe. The European Court of Auditors concluded last year that the EU is unlikely to achieve its goal of doubling Europe’s share of the global chip market by 2030.
They should make another law and probably a few more commissions of auditors.
- ramshanker
Happy to hear India got mentioned by the same executive during that conversation. We are just started buying from them. I went to Semicon India 2026, held in delhi last week. The energy was amazing. Really pleasant. all big names including ASML.
- jurschreuder
The Dutch govt is slowly nationalising the chip industry, by making taxes so high no company can survive international competition, and then using this tax money to buy stock in all deep tech companies calling it investing.
- aennassiri
I'm fed up with the regular euro bashing. People are underestimating what EU countries can do. The whole history was similar. France, for example, was neither the first to build high-end luxury products nor was it the first to embrace the Industrial Revolution. It managed to catch up in any case.
EU countries went from killing each other in two of the most deadly wars to having a union in 30 years.
I wish that the EU did the same as China did years ago, and that is to block any non-EU tech company from entering the market. We could have had the Google/Meta equivalent years ago.
- Tade0
The automotive industry or, should I say, Volkswagen isn't interested in state-of-the-art chips, so the fabs won't be built - simple.
Europe will keep making manufacturing equipment, but leave the actual production to those who have the grid capacity and capital.
- rurban
Untrue. TSMC is just building a state of the art chip factory in Dresden, and they are certainly using ASML.
- sublimefire
Misleading article, they are selling to corporations already who in turn have plans to create a few fabs in Europe. So it is maybe more about European companies who are not buying, but that rests on difficult capital availability and fragmented nature of the continent. Europe is not one country after all, someone wants a fab in Germany, but the why is it not in France or Sweeden.
- sva_
more discussion from yesterday https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49844663