ASML is busy buying up properties on the Heiberg in Veldhoven. In just over a year, the chip machine manufacturer has taken over for almost twenty million euros, according to research by Omroep Brabant. The question of whether ASML will also be given permission to really get to work in such a new location does not seem to play a role for the company.
Since 1985, ASML has been located at De Run business park in Veldhoven. Over the years it has expanded considerably. In December, the city council gave permission, despite protests from the neighbourhood to build even moreon the west side of the ASML site.
But ASML is looking further: in recent months, properties outside that designated area have also been purchased, and talks are underway with owners to take over even more. These are plots on the Heiberg, a street with businesses and a few houses. The most recent purchase: on December 14, the company took over a chick hatchery for 3.6 million euros.
27 million
Since 2019, ASML has already spent more than 27 million on buildings and land on the Heiberg. Three weeks before the chick hatchery, it was the neighbor’s turn, a construction company. ASML was willing to pay 4,250,000 euros to take it over.
A poultry farm on the other side of the street (including a home and some land) has also been owned by ASML since the end of 2021, more than 11 million was paid for it. And even before that, a gardener sold his properties: he got well over a million for it.
No permission
It is striking that not all purchases fall within ASML’s expansion plans, which the Veldhoven city council gave permission for last month. The chick hatchery, poultry farm and construction company are all outside that area.
The building of the poultry farm is still designated as ‘agricultural’. Making chip machines does not fall under this and is therefore not allowed. The question is therefore whether ASML is allowed to expand here. The company says about this: “The fact that De Run along the A67 is a possible expansion area for ASML has been part of the policy plan of the municipality of Veldhoven for many years.”
See below the locations where ASML will be allowed to work in the coming years, Plan Noord and Plan Zuid. The three recently purchased properties are indicated with asterisks.
‘Above market value’
But ASML goes further. According to local residents, the company is currently talking to several property owners on the Heiberg. Those conversations are ‘respectful and tactful’, as we hear from the neighborhood and also from ASML itself. “We are now also approached more often by local residents themselves,” says a spokesman.
ASML’s offer would also be above market value. It creates a dilemma. Because those who don’t want to leave will have to learn to live with the view of the ASML buildings.
Walking the dog
Someone who has already made the decision is gardener Albert Kapteijns. His company and associated home now belong to ASML, he will move in a few weeks.
Kapteijns has seen the street change considerably in recent times. Previously you could walk the dog at your leisure. “I used to live here very rural and very beautiful,” he says. Now there are traffic jams in the morning and evening due to the many cars of employees of the well-known chip machine manufacturer.
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