[FirmwareBurner]

Migration in general maybe not so much because then it's mostly just used as wage suppression, but skilled migration in niche fields like the one ASML operates in is absolutely necessary since a small county like NL can't produce all the specialized labor a large and growing company like ASML in a short timespan to satisfy their massive order books.

Training a skilled semiconductor engineer can take 6+ years but you need them right fucking now. You can't compress 6 years of education and training experience in an instant no matter how much you were to pay for the locals.

TSMC and Intel won't want to wait 6 years. They might as well wait for Nikon and Canon to solve EUV.

[ipaddr]

Wouldn't they be better off filling most positions locally even if quantity dips because long term those skills transfer rathering then hoping a migrant becomes a local? 40% is a high number required.

[FirmwareBurner]

The realities of the world never work on "wouldn't it be better if...".

Yes it would be better if there was no war in Ukraine, no war in Gaza, no COVID, no economic downturn with inflation, etc. but the world doesn't function on our wishes, and companies operate on quarterly profits and can't wait for the world to become as they wish.

[ipaddr]

Long term they would be in a better position. Short term vs long term thinking.

The war piece is more complex. Ukraine war is about NATO expanding into Russian influence zones. Without that war we would be looking at a war in a different place, maybe even a nuclear war fighting over the same thing. The Gaza war is a proxy for a Iran/Israel war. COVID become a proxy war for a power grab by health officials. They still want countries to handover power over citizen to the who by the end of this month.

[adriancr]

For R&D it's usually winner take all, if you fall behind as a company then you might just end up irrelevant.