ASML Executive Says Europe’s Biggest Firm Has No Sales in Europe

Submission Statement: A top executive at ASML Holding NV, Europe’s most valuable company, said it isn’t selling any of its chipmaking machines on the continent and that the region risks getting left behind as the US, China and India invest heavily in developing their domestic semiconductor industries.

“We’re not selling anything at all in Europe. That’s because Europe isn’t investing and because no chip factories are being built there,” ASML Executive Vice President Frank Heemskerk, who is responsible for global public affairs, said at an event in Amsterdam late Monday.

ASML is a linchpin in the semiconductor supply chain as it’s the only maker of the sophisticated lithography equipment crucial to producing cutting-edge chips. Its machines are used by customers including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. to print intricate patterns of transistors on silicon wafers and have been key to powering the global artificial intelligence boom.

The chip equipment maker is also being aggressively courted to expand its presence in the US, China and India, according to Heemskerk.

“We need to scale up our production. We aren’t doing that solely in the Netherlands,” he said. “There is a fierce competitive battle to get us to do it somewhere else. What’s important for ASML is that Europe steps up to the plate.”

China and India “roll out the reddest of red carpets for me and they say, ‘come invest here, too, and set up your factory here,’” Heemskerk said. “We conduct a quarter of our research in the US and they say, ‘can’t that be half?’”

Europe contributed nothing to ASML’s net system sales in the second quarter. That compares with a 1% slice represented by Europe, Middle East and Africa in 2025.

South Korea was ASML’s top market for its tools in the first half, followed by Taiwan and China. In May, ASML signed a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Private Limited which aims at boosting India’s domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities.