Chip equipment maker ASML plans to expand in Eindhoven.
Photographer: Ksenia Kuleshova/Bloomberg
How the AI Boom Is Counting On a Small Dutch City
ASML wants to build a giant new facility in Eindhoven, but the project first needs to overcome some basic hurdles.
When Eindhoven began producing light bulbs in 1891, it was at the forefront of innovation as electricity came to the masses. More than 130 years later, the race is on to keep the Dutch city at the center of another technical revolution, in artificial intelligence.
Chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV is planning a 100-hectare (247 acre) expansion to meet growth targets, and much is riding on the company’s success. AI companies are in an arms race to build the infrastructure needed for more powerful models that could one day power self-driving cars and empower robot doctors, and a lot of it needs ASML’s machines.