ASML Gets Rare Environmental Exemption to Expand Chip Machine Campus Near Eindhoven
ASML, maker of advanced chip machines, received a rare nitrogen permit exemption to expand near Eindhoven, despite concerns about environmental damage and the strain of 20,000 new workers on the region.
Chipmaking machine manufacturer ASML has cleared the final hurdle needed to begin building its new campus near Eindhoven. On March 11, the province of Noord-Brabant granted the company a special nitrogen permit, and the Eindhoven city council voted the evening before to approve the changes needed to local planning rules. Construction is now expected to start after the summer.
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What ASML is building and why it matters
ASML, which is headquartered in Veldhoven just outside Eindhoven, makes the machines that semiconductor factories around the world use to produce computer chips. It is the only company in the world that makes the most advanced type of these machines, giving it a near-monopoly in a technology that underpins everything from smartphones to artificial intelligence.
ASML currently has around 23,000 employees in the Netherlands and wants to build a new campus on the Brainport Industries Campus, a technology park near Eindhoven Airport. The goal is to bring the first 5,000 employees to the new site by 2028, with the location eventually accommodating up to 20,000 workers, doubling the company's presence in the region. On top of that, tens of thousands of additional jobs are expected to follow at suppliers and related businesses.
What the nitrogen problem was
The biggest obstacle to the expansion was a nitrogen permit. In the Netherlands, any large construction or industrial project must show that it will not cause significant damage to protected nature areas, known as Natura 2000 areas. These are ecosystems protected under European law, and the Netherlands has faced years of legal and political battles over nitrogen emissions from construction, farming and industry that threaten them.
Noord-Brabant is effectively locked when it comes to nitrogen. Under a standard assessment, ASML would not have qualified for a permit because the evaluation found that significant negative effects on nearby protected nature areas could not be fully ruled out.
How the province got around it
To approve the permit anyway, the province used a rarely applied legal route called the ADC-toets, a three-step test that allows the normal permitting rules to be bypassed under specific conditions. For the exception to apply, three things must all be true: there must be no reasonable alternatives to the project, there must be compelling reasons of major public interest, and the damage to nature must be compensated through other measures elsewhere.
Provincial official Saskia Boelema concluded that ASML had sufficiently demonstrated that all three conditions were met, pointing to the company's unique global position as a manufacturer of chips machines for the fastest chips in the world. To compensate for the environmental impact, woodland in the Kempen region of Brabant will be restored and improved.
What the city council approved
The Eindhoven city council voted 35 to 6 in favour of changing the local zoning plan to accommodate the expansion. The approved changes allow roads in the surrounding area to be altered, and give the municipality the legal power to compulsorily purchase land from owners who have not yet agreed to sell. Six landowners had already accepted offers for their plots, and the municipality will now pursue the remaining three through the courts.
Not everyone was enthusiastic. SP councillor Jannie Visscher voted against, warning that ASML's arrival would trigger unprecedented growth in the region and that this should not come at the expense of existing residents.
What happens next
ASML wants to begin construction after the summer of 2026. Before that can happen, energy network operator TenneT also needs to ensure there is sufficient electricity capacity connected to the new site. Grid congestion, where there is simply not enough space on the electricity network to connect new large users, has been a separate and long-running challenge across the Netherlands.
The expansion is part of a broader effort by both the Dutch government and the Eindhoven region to keep ASML rooted in the Netherlands. In recent years the company had warned that if it could not grow here, it would look elsewhere.
