ANPASML CEO Peter Wennink
It is becoming increasingly difficult for chip machine manufacturer ASML to continue to grow the company in the Netherlands. This is what ASML CEO Peter Wennink said after discussions with the outgoing cabinet about the company’s concerns. There is no question of a departure from the Netherlands for the time being, but if the company cannot grow in the Netherlands, “then it can be done somewhere else,” says Wennink.
The boss of the tech company is concerned about the business climate in the Netherlands. He points to, among other things, a change in the law that came into effect this year, which means that expats in the Netherlands are gradually receiving fewer tax benefits. “In my opinion, insufficient thought has been given to this, with very negative consequences for the Dutch business climate. Not only for ASML.”
Wennink’s concerns have not fallen on deaf ears. A special operation has even been set up in The Hague, called Beethoven, to keep the manufacturer of chip machines within the borders. Last week, part of the cabinet visited the company in Veldhoven, yesterday there was broad consultation on the issue at ministerial level and today outgoing Prime Minister Rutte himself spoke with Wennink.
When it comes to analyzing the problem, the outgoing cabinet and ASML are on the same page, says Wennink. It is also clear to both parties that solutions must be found. “We will have to discuss this together in the near future, and the House must think something about it.”
Because according to Wennink, it is mainly the House of Representatives that is not sufficiently aware of how important the tech sector, with ASML in the lead, is for the Netherlands. “There is a considerable gap between what the business community thinks is necessary and what politicians think is necessary. And not so much the ministers, but the House of Representatives.”
France and Germany
The fear is not so much that ASML will move abroad completely, but that the company will choose to make investments mainly abroad. As a result, the Netherlands is becoming less and less relevant for ASML and departure is becoming a realistic option.
“We initially want to grow in the Netherlands,” says Wennink. “But the preconditions for growth must be met in the right way.”
Wennink mentions France and Germany as examples of countries where these preconditions are better regulated. For example, they are busy with the European Chip Act, which makes it easier to give large sums of subsidies to companies in exchange for large investments.
New coalition
The outgoing cabinet has therefore been put on alert, but the question is whether a new cabinet will also take ASML’s concerns to heart. NSC, one of the parties at the negotiating table, took the initiative to simplify the expat scheme. “Of course we are concerned about that, but there is no coalition yet, so we will have to wait and see,” said Wennink.
After the conversation with Wennink, outgoing Minister Adriaansens of Economic Affairs says that the outgoing cabinet wants to bring forward the evaluation of the retrenchment of the expat scheme. “So that we can see whether it does what it is supposed to do and we can also bring people here for the jobs that we really want to fill.”