Hoping to re-align with lawmakers, eight Dutch semiconductor companies, including ASML, NXP and ASM, paid a visit to parliament on Thursday. The delegation pleaded for retaining tax breaks on investment and bemoaned excessive red tape and inconsistent policymaking. “ASML needs to continue to grow, to meet the enormous demand for microchips and we ask you to make this growth possible, preferably in the Netherlands, where we are reaching our limits,” Reuters cites Frank Heemskerk, ASML’s head of Global Affairs.
Relationships with the chip sector soured when parliament last year cut tax breaks for expats and introduced a tax on share buybacks. Responding to “alarming signals” from ASML, Economic Affairs Minister Micky Adriaansens started a task force to ease the pain. Operation Beethoven culminated in a 1.7 billion euro investment from the national government in the infrastructure, housing and educational sector of the Brainport-Eindhoven region, the semiconductor epicenter of the Netherlands.
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