The Netherlands Ships More AI Hardware Than Its Size Suggests

The Netherlands moved into second place among Europe’s AI equipment exporters this week, trailing only Germany, according to a new report from credit insurer Atradius. The Netherlands’ slice of the global AI equipment market sits at 7 percent, translating into export value above €80 billion and an 11th-place ranking worldwide. Given the Netherlands’ comparatively small economy, that ranking says something about how much weight a single company can carry.

ASML

That company is ASML. The Veldhoven-based manufacturer produces the EUV lithography machines used to make the world’s most advanced processors, and it remains the only firm on the planet that can build them. Atradius senior economist Theo Smid points to a second role, too. The Netherlands functions as Europe’s logistics hub for AI hardware, re-exporting routers and network switches manufactured elsewhere.

The Global AI Trade

Global trade in AI-enabling goods hit €2.9 trillion in 2024, close to triple the figure from a decade earlier. Asian economies account for 65 per cent of that trade, and the fifteen largest exporting nations together account for nearly all of it.

Export controls, tariffs, or a single supply disruption in Taiwan could ripple straight through European AI development, since so few alternative suppliers exist for critical components. His prescription is for Europe to diversify suppliers and build up its own manufacturing capacity, an ambition already underway through the EU Chips Act, which targets doubling Europe’s share of global chip production to 20 percent by 2030.

For expats working anywhere near Dutch tech, semiconductors, or logistics, the Netherlands’ footprint in AI equipment rests on remarkably few companies, and ASML is chief among them.