While the technology sector is bleeding from layoffs, ASML is walking in the opposite direction: 20,000 euros to stay
2026 is being a rush of layoffs in technology companies. It is estimated that in the first four months, at least 92,000 employees in the technology sector have lost their jobs with the excuse that we must invest more in AI. Meanwhile, the opposite is happening in semiconductor and component companies: they are paying bonuses so they don’t leave. That’s just what ASML is doing. what has happened. They tell it in Eindhovens Dagblad: ASML is going to offer its employees a share package worth 20,000 euros to all employees who continue to work in the company in 2030. The shares will be available from January 1, 2027 and the condition to be able to collect it is to continue working in the company on January 1, 2030. Why it is important. The AI boom has two sides. On one side we have technology companies like Meta that They are investing very aggressively in AImainly in the construction of data centers. In addition, AI serves to automate processes and thus requires less labor. The other downside is companies like ASML, Samsung or SK Hynix that cannot afford to manufacture more components that make the AI boom possible. Here you don’t say goodbye, here you try to retain talent with a checkbook. Rshare the benefits. In total, ASML has 44,500 employees worldwide, of which around 23,500 work at its headquarters in Veldhoven. If when 2030 arrives all workers are still in the company, ASML would have to disburse 890 million euros. ASML leads the ranking of European companies with the highest market capitalization. Only the last quarter brought in 9.3 billion euros, with a net profit of 2.92 billion. Come on, they can afford it. The Samsung case. A few months ago, Samsung also confirmed that would pay a bonus to its workers in the semiconductor division. However, it did not leave the company, but was the result of a negotiation with the employees, which They threatened a strike that would paralyze the factories. Finally Samsung gave in and employees will get a bonus of $340,000 on average. The bad part is that this has created tensions within the company because staff in other divisions such as devices would get a much smaller bonus, in some cases $4,000. Meanwhile in Silicon Valley. As we said at the beginning, technology companies have reduced their workforce considerably so far this year. In May Meta fired 8,000 employeesMicrosoft offered early retirement to many othersOracle too gave a door to thousands of workers (no figure yet confirmed), Amazon too… The serious thing is that it is not a financial problem, but rather The reason behind the vast majority of these layoffs is AI. It is not about replacing employees with AI, but rather that many companies are completely restructuring themselves to develop AI. Image | Xataka with Magnific In Xataka | AI has become the perfect alibi for anything: it serves companies both to cut back and to expand
