ASML Expands in Berlin as Global Chip Demand Surges
ASML offices Berlin - © ASML
Berlin is quietly becoming one of Europe's most important addresses in the global semiconductor race. Dutch chip equipment giant ASML is expanding its production site in Berlin-Britz with a new hall spanning 27,000 square meters, set for completion in 2028. The news was reported by Berlin's Tagesspiegel.
ASML, the world's leading supplier of lithography machines used in chip manufacturing, acquired Berlin-based Berliner Glas in 2020 and has been steadily growing the site ever since. Today, around 1,900 people work for ASML in Berlin, making it a significant employer in the city's tech sector.
Berlin is ASML's global center for the production of wafer tables and wafer clamps, the precision components that hold silicon wafers in place during the chip-etching process. Engineers here developed a diamond coating for these surfaces to make them more durable, and the same approach is now being extended to the clamps, using specially grown diamond crystals. This innovation helps ASML maintain its technological edge over competitors, including Chinese firms working on similar technology.
"Global demand for chips is exploding right now," says Markus Matthes, head of ASML Berlin. Major US tech companies including Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple, and Microsoft have announced plans to invest 600 billion dollars in new AI data centers, driving massive demand for chip production capacity.
ASML recently secured an order from South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix worth around eight billion dollars, and expects revenues of up to 40 billion dollars this year.
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