Dutch minister confident ‘crown jewel’ chip firm ASML will stay in Netherlands after threat to leave
A top Dutch government minister said he’s confident the country’s coveted chip-equipment maker ASML will remain in the Netherlands following threats from the company to move its operations abroad.
Steven van Weyenberg, the Netherlands’ finance minister, told CNBC’s Karen Tso on Thursday that he isn’t worried by ASML’s statements threatening to leave the country. The company has since walked back the comments.
In a January call with investors, ASML CEO Peter Wennink said: “The consequences of limiting labor migration are large, we need those people to innovate. If we can’t get those people here, we will go somewhere where we can grow.”
His comments followed controversial plans by the Dutch to scale back tax breaks for highly skilled migrants and limit the number of foreigners who can attend Dutch universities.
ASML is core to the world’s semiconductor supply chain. The company makes extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, which are critical to the semiconductor industry for manufacturing integrated circuits.
EUV machines generate an incredibly short wavelength of light in large quantities to print small, complex designs on microchips. The EUV light is created with tiny explosions of molten tin happening at extreme speeds and then bounced off mirrors that ASML says are the flattest surfaces in the world.
“I think many people, many countries would love to welcome ASML, but I think they’re strongly embedded in the Netherlands,” Van Weyenberg told CNBC Thursday.
The minster said he had been involved in discussions between the cabinet and ASML last month concerning the firm’s plans to grow in the Netherlands and whether there were enough roads, houses and skilled people from abroad to foster that growth.
“I’m very optimistic about ASML’s future and that it will be within the Netherlands,” he said.
ASML logo is seen at the headquarters in Veldhoven, Netherlands June 16, 2023.
Piroschka Van De Wouw | Reuters
The Dutch government last month launched a campaign dubbed “Operation Beethoven” in an attempt to address ASML’s concerns and convince them to stay in the Netherlands, Reuters reported.
The semiconductor-equipment maker has since ruled out a complete departure from the Netherlands, but the company remains unhappy with its home country’s approach to fostering growth.
“There is a considerable gap between the concerns of industry, and what we think is necessary, and what politicians think,” ASML CEO Peter Wennink told reporters after a meeting with the Dutch government in March, according to Reuters. If ASML can’t grow in the Netherlands “it can do so elsewhere”, he reportedly said.
Though the Dutch are still working to appoint a new government, plans previously approved by Parliament to cap the number of foreign students and scrap the skilled-migrant tax break have upset several businesses in the country, including ASML and Dutch chipmaker NXP.
More than 40% of ASML’s 23,000-strong workforce in the Netherlands are not Dutch.
The Netherlands has previously seen some of its multinational firms ditch its shores for greener pastures. In 2021, for example, oil major Shell decided to move its corporate headquarters and tax base to London from Amsterdam.
Meanwhile, Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm, in 2020 moved forward with a plan to unify its headquarters in London, ending a hybrid structure that saw the firm dual-headquartered in both the U.K. and the Netherlands.
Britain’s high-growth technology firms have gripes of their own, however, in terms of how the government is encouraging foreign investment into tech startups, as well as the hiring of foreign labor following the country’s Brexit vote.
‘Crown jewel’ of Dutch economy
ASML has also been caught up in geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. In January, the company was barred by the Dutch government from exporting some of its tools to China.
The trade block was imposed after the U.S. government tightened export controls on advanced semiconductors and chipmaking tools to China in October, building on previous rules.
Van Weyenberg said the Dutch government was cooperating with ASML and the U.S. on chip export controls on China.
“ASML is one of the crown jewels of the Dutch economy,” Van Weyenberg said. “They are really one of the basis of our growth model.”
“We want to support them, we actually help them to grow in the Netherlands. And I think there is a great future for them ahead also complying with all the rules that are on the playing table,” he added.
But he also warned that global fragmentation caused by fractures in the world economy puts a small and open economy like the Netherlands at risk.
He added that from a security risk perspective, “we have to also look at China and make sure they play by the same rules.”
An Amazon worker moves boxes on Amazon Prime Day in the East Village of New York City, July 11, 2023.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Amazon is extending its Prime Day discount bonanza, announcing that the annual sale will run four days this year.
The 96-hour event will start at 12:01 a.m. PT on July 8, and continue through July 11, Amazon said in a release.
For the first time, the company will roll out themed “deal drops” that change daily and are available “while supplies last.” Amazon has in recent years toyed with adding more limited-run and invite-only deals during Prime Day events to create a feeling of urgency or scarcity.
Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 as a way to secure new members for its $139-a-year loyalty program, and to promote its own products and services while providing a sales boost in the middle of the year. In 2019, the company made Prime Day a 48-hour event, and it’s since added a second Prime Day-like event in the fall.
Prime Day is also a significant revenue driver for other retailers, which often host competing discount events.
Technology
SK Hynix shares extend gains to over 2-decade highs as parent group reportedly plans AI data center
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Snowflake Summit in San Francisco on June 2, 2025.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
OpenAI has been awarded a $200 million contract to provide the U.S. Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools.
The department announced the one-year contract on Monday, months after OpenAI said it would collaborate with defense technology startup Anduril to deploy advanced AI systems for “national security missions.”
“Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” the Defense Department said. It’s the first contract with OpenAI listed on the Department of Defense’s website.
Anduril received a $100 million defense contract in December. Weeks earlier, OpenAI rival Anthropic said it would work with Palantir and Amazon to supply its AI models to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, said in a discussion with OpenAI board member and former National Security Agency leader Paul Nakasone at a Vanderbilt University event in April that “we have to and are proud to and really want to engage in national security areas.”
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Defense Department specified that the contract is with OpenAI Public Sector LLC, and that the work will mostly occur in the National Capital Region, which encompasses Washington, D.C., and several nearby counties in Maryland and Virginia.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is working to build additional computing power in the U.S. In January, Altman appeared alongside President Donald Trump at the White House to announce the $500 billion Stargate project to build AI infrastructure in the U.S.
The new contract will represent a small portion of revenue at OpenAI, which is generating over $10 billion in annualized sales. In March, the company announced a $40 billion financing round at a $300 billion valuation.
In April, Microsoft, which supplies cloud infrastructure to OpenAI, said the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency has authorized the use of the Azure OpenAI service with secret classified information.
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