The Netherlands based company designs and manufactures the highly complex lithography machines that are essential for producing microchips.
“The industry needs us. That’s true even for the US. If it wants to develop more semiconductor manufacturing, they will need ASML systems, and having tariff on those tools will just increase the cost of manufacturing in the US. Tariffs are not always good for all products,” he said.
With regards to shifting geopolitics, Fouquet said the semiconductor industry has been built in an open collaboration model where different parts of the world was very good at different things.
“That’s still the best-case scenario. The more we collaborate and the less barrier, the better it is for everyone in this industry. Going from AI, all the way to material supplier,” he said.
Coming to India
ASML likes to be where its customers are and may initiate an India play as and when semiconductor units continue to come up in India. For ASML to set up a manufacturing facility, Fouquet clarified that it requires a deeper understanding of the local ecosystem.