A plan is being worked on in the utmost secrecy, under the code name Beethoven, to prevent a possible departure from ASML.
ASML has previously said that it would be a possibility to go abroad. The company is concerned regarding the business climate in the Netherlands.
It cannot find enough technically trained personnel in the Netherlands, so it has to bring in employees from abroad. According to CEO Peter Wennink, at least 60 percent of the employees the company hires come from abroad.
Expats
But the expat scheme, which provides tax benefits for employees from abroad, is being phased out, making it financially less attractive for engineers from India, for example, to work in the Netherlands.
And the parties trying to form a new cabinet (PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB) are considering limiting the number of migrants, including international students.
‘Very unlikely’
Yet Jos Versteeg, analyst at InsingerGilissen, never believes that the entire factory will leave. He also thinks it is ‘very unlikely’ that ASML will make new investments abroad instead of in the Netherlands.
What is happening now is putting pressure on politicians in The Hague to take measures that will make it easier for ASML to obtain the much-needed skilled workers, he thinks.
23,000 employees
Moving the entire factory would mean that all approximately 23,000 employees would have to move, but a large part would not go with them, Versteeg thinks. Then you have to look for employees once more, while ASML is already having difficulty attracting enough new employees.
Many parts for ASML’s chip machines come from suppliers all over the world, which are assembled in Veldhoven, Versteeg explains. Chip machines must first be tested, that also happens there.
Netherlands vs abroad
Theoretically, you might assemble one part somewhere else, which would require investing abroad, and then transport it back to Veldhoven to place it in a chip machine to be built there.
But the test facilities are in Veldhoven and it is not easy to move such a gigantic ASML machine, says Versteeg. “It’s much easier to keep all the facilities together.”
You might move the head office, he says. But that doesn’t help you much, because the shortage of highly trained employees is particularly acute in production, says Versteeg.
‘Departure increasingly likely’
Jim Tehupuring, investment expert at 1 Vermogensbeheer, thinks differently. According to him, it is increasingly likely that ASML will leave, “but I don’t know whether that is 30 percent or 70 percent.”
According to Tehupuring, ASML is being opposed on many fronts. In addition to phasing out the expat scheme, he points to the profit tax for companies that has increased in recent years and export restrictions. For example, ASML is not allowed to sell the latest chip machines to China.
‘Takes years’
First, ASML would move its legal headquarters abroad, so that it would have to pay less profit tax, Tehupuring thinks. Ultimately, he thinks, taking production abroad will not be a problem, although that will be a process that will take years.
You can start by assembling a certain part abroad, and then transport that part to Veldhoven for further installation in a chip machine, says Tehupuring. You can then continue to expand that assembly abroad, he says.
World top
ASML’s chip machines are the most advanced in the world. They are indispensable in making chips, but there is hardly any other company in the world that builds these machines.
ASML is now worth around 360 billion euros on the stock exchange, making ASML the second largest Dutch company. In Europa are only two companies worth more.
