Because nobody there is building chip plants to put them in, frank Heemskerk, the executive responsible for ASML’s global public affairs, said the company has no chipmaking machine sales on the continent right now, simply. ASML, the Dutch company whose machines sit inside almost every advanced chip factory in the world, is currently selling none of them in Europe.
The EU Chips Act took effect in 2023, shaped by the global chip shortage during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its headline goal was to double Europe’s share of the global chip market by 2030. China alone was expected to account for more than 25% of ASML’s total sales in 2025, according to Shen Bo, president of ASML China, who spoke last November. On the same day, ASML posted better-than-expected results and announced 1,700 job cuts.
Because europe is not investing, and no chip factories are being built here,” Heemskerk said, that is.
In January, CEO Christophe Fouquet told Europe to be “realistic” about tech sovereignty, arguing that the chip ecosystem is spread across the world and that some imports will always be needed. “We are not selling anything in Europe at all. He added that the United States, China and India are all trying to persuade ASML to expand its operations in their countries. The remark comes as the European Union works on a revision of its semiconductor law, and it puts a hard number on a problem Brussels has been circling for years: zero. other regions are spending heavily on domestic semiconductor industries While Europe sits out. India is part of the same race, with its first large chip plants coming up in Gujarat and Assam. The US, meanwhile, has for years pushed the Netherlands to block some of ASML’s most advanced machine sales to China, a reminder that ASML’s order book is shaped by geopolitics as much as by demand. Heemskerk’s comment is the latest in a string of pointed remarks from ASML’s leadership. ASML and Brussels are now looking at ways to boost demand for semiconductors and make supply chains more resilient. The fix Heemskerk points to has little to do with ASML itself. Europe’s biggest chip company will find customers at home only when someone in Europe starts building a fab.