ASML, the Netherlands-based company that makes the most advanced integrated circuit production machines, had planned to hire 600 new employees in Taiwan this year. Finally she was forced to revise upwards your hiring plan. In 2026 they will arrive at their facilities on this Asian island 1,000 new additions. Grace Wang, the vice president and general manager of ASML in Taiwan, has declared that this change has been brought about by the insatiable demand for chips for artificial intelligence (AI).
ASML does not manufacture semiconductors, but its equipment extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) are being used by TSMC, SK Hynix, Samsung, Intel and Micron to produce the advanced integrated circuits that data centers demand. Especially CPU, GPU and HBM type DRAM memories (High Bandwidth Memory or high bandwidth memory). In fact, this company alone occupies the first link in the global chip manufacturing chain because it is the only one that produces EUV lithography machines.
Be that as it may, Grace Wang’s declaration of intent responds to an unappealable reality: Taiwan is the industrial heart of this Dutch company. ASML manufactures components on this island and assembles UVE lithography equipment which it subsequently delivers to its local customers. These operations are also carried out in the Netherlands, but there are two compelling reasons why Taiwan is enormously relevant to ASML’s business: its best customer and its biggest focus on its global customers reside there.
TSMC is ASML’s largest customer
A determining factor that is promoting ASML’s expansion in Taiwan is its close relationship with TSMC, the largest manufacturer of integrated circuits of the planet. The operations of this company on the island currently generate 8.3 billion eurosa quarter of ASML’s global revenue. And much of that money comes from the coffers of TSMC, which is building new advanced semiconductor production plants in Taiwan, Japan, Germany and the US.
ASML is building a facility in New Taipei that costs about $954 million.
However, ASML’s Taiwan branch is not just hiring more staff (it currently has 4,500 employees on this island); is also building a new facility in New Taipei that costs about 954 million dollars. Their plan is for this plant to begin operating before the end of 2026 and to house about 2,000 employees in its initial phase. We still don’t know for sure what this factory will do, but it will probably combine component production, EUV machine assembly, and technical support to customers, primarily TSMC.
ASML’s infrastructure in Taiwan is distributed between two cities with very specialized functions. Linkou is responsible for reconditioning chip manufacturing equipment, producing grating manipulators for deep ultraviolet (DVP) machines, and cleaning UVE collectors. Tainan, however, serves as a large global customer service center. And in a few months, as we have just seen, the New Taipei plant will be ready. The future of ASML is promising even though US sanctions They prevent it from selling its most sophisticated machines to its Chinese customers.
Image | ASML
More information | DigiTimes Asia
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