AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch government said on Thursday it would spend 2.5 billion euros to develop the city of Eindhoven and its suburbs, to ensure that ASML does not relocate its activities outside the country. -Down.
Economic Affairs Minister Micky Adriaansens confirmed the figure to the press as part of a wider plan to retain ASML, the country’s largest company, dubbed “Operation Beethoven”.
The funds will be used in particular to improve housing, education, transport and the electricity network.
In a press release, the ministerial cabinet indicated that it also intended to take measures to reduce the tax burden on companies, after many of them expressed their distress in the face of a potential relocation of ASML.
“By taking these measures, the firm assumes that ASML will continue to invest and maintain its statutory, fiscal and real headquarters in the Netherlands,” the ministry said.
Semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML, which is Europe’s largest technology company, is based in Veldhoven, a suburb of Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands.
The company shocked the Dutch government after its chief executive, Peter Wennink, went public this month with complaints including plans to end a tax break for skilled migrants, which would make it harder to hire essential personnel for the company.
ASML also said the government was not investing enough to improve infrastructure in Eindhoven’s booming tech hub, whether in highways, housing or improving the electricity grid.
A Reuters survey of major Dutch companies this month found that more than a dozen were considering moving their operations outside the Netherlands.
Many complained that after elections last November, in which populist parties made significant gains, parliament pushed through policies without considering the long-term impact.
Shell and Unilever had moved their headquarters to London after the Dutch government was forced in 2018 to renege on its promise to scrap withholding tax on dividends.
(Reporting Toby Sterling; Stéphanie Hamel, editing by Kate Entringer)
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