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ASML says it sold 'absolutely nothing' in Europe in 2026

402 points · 900 comments · MC995

HPsquared · 1790346004 · focus · HN ↗
Semiconductor fabs involve a lot of hazardous chemicals, process changes and high energy consumption. Exactly the kind of thing European regulations tend to deter or slow down. Which is somewhat fine if there is nowhere else to build it, but if other places are easier, well...
1. l5870uoo9y · 1790347111 · focus · HN ↗
  > high energy consumption
  Just to address this separately: there is effectively energy rationing in several European countries, where the government intervenes to prioritize who should receive energy first (e.g., the Netherlands and Denmark).
  1. alephnerd · 1790347246 · focus · HN ↗
    Most fabs build their own separate power grid.
    And Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are also energy poor states that have been able to maintain capacity.
    The energy excuse is true for some manufacturing processes like automotive in CEE which were pants that were built in the 1990s to 2000s and leveraged Russian ONG, but is a red herring for a lot of other manufacturing processes in Europe.
    European states have a coordination problem as Draghi pointed out 2 years ago.
    peri-cl · 1790348374 · focus · HN ↗
    TSMC alone uses 1/8th of Taiwan's electricity (and rising). They make it work.
    <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/taiwan-semiconductor" rel="nofollow">https://spectrum.ieee.org/taiwan-semiconductor
    <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/tsmc-could-account-for-24-of-taiwans-electricity-consumption-by-2030/" rel="nofollow">https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/tsmc-could-accoun...
    Panoramix · 1790499653 · focus · HN ↗
    Also, if you start now you would not compete with TSMC in the coming 20-30 years, so the energy requirements won't be that high off the bat

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