ASML's ambitious growth plans face significant challenges due to slow decision-making, gridlock, and stringent European nitrogen regulations. The multi-billion euro 'Project Beethoven' is encountering serious obstacles, endangering the Dutch chip industry's future and prompting concerns from key stakeholders. Mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem emphasizes urgency in addressing the nitrogen issue, which poses risks to construction and development projects. Additionally, grid congestion hampers power supply for expansions, illustrating broader struggles within the sector. The Eindhoven region's hope for innovation is at risk unless the government takes decisive action to resolve these problems.
"We cannot wait until this cabinet falls or until a solution is found in a few years," says Dijsselbloem about the nitrogen problem, affecting European nations across the board and hitting Dutch building projects hard. He opposes the ongoing "denial or dismissal" of the issues.
Giovanni Wouters, secretary-director of the Eindhoven Metropolitan Region, confirms that nitrogen could become an "absolute showstopper". He concludes: "Ultimately, it is up to the government to fundamentally address this problem."
The 2.5 billion euro rescue plan drawn up in 2024 to anchor ASML and the entire chip sector in the Netherlands threatens to get bogged down in a morass of procedures and practical limitations.
The problem has symptoms that strongly resemble the ongoing struggles in other sectors. For example, the nitrogen problem threatens to paralyze the entire ASML growth strategy, forcing the company to devise alternative solutions, which are located outside the Netherlands.
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