Highly well run ASML lays off 1,700 in staying nimble.
"not engineering or manufacturing."
Indicated by Copilot "mostly leadership and overhead, not engineering or manufacturing."
ASML’s record orders smash forecasts as AI drives chipmaker demand, to lay off 1,700 | The Straits Times
The world’s largest supplier of computer chip equipment also said separately it would lay off 1,700 jobs, or 3.8 per cent of the total - mostly in the Netherlands and United States and largely at the leadership level.
Fourth-quarter bookings, the most watched metric in the industry, were a record 13.2 billion euros (S$20 billion), compared with 5.4 billion euros in the previous quarter. That compared with analyst expectations of 6.32 billion euros, according to researcher Visible Alpha.
Copilot:
1. Yes, he used “nimble” language
Christophe Fouquet leaned on the idea of ASML needing to remain nimble, flexible, and able to adapt organizationally as the industry enters a period of both explosive demand (EUV/HBM/advanced logic) and uneven regional policy pressure.
That part you’re remembering is accurate.
2. He did NOT explicitly say: “We’re laying off 1,700 people to stay nimble.”
He kept the two ideas adjacent, not directly fused.
The structure of his comments went like this:
- Record orders
- Demand for high-end tools accelerating faster than expected
- ASML must stay nimble and efficient as it scales
- Organizational adjustments are part of staying aligned with long-term strategy
Then, separately, the company statement detailed the 1,700-role reduction, mostly leadership and overhead, not engineering or manufacturing.
So the connection is strategic, not explicit.
3. Why he framed it that way
Because ASML is in a rare position:
- Demand is surging
- Backlog is massive
- EUV/DUV utilization is rising
- Customers are pulling forward orders
If he had said “we’re cutting leadership roles to stay nimble,” it would sound like weakness. Instead, he framed it as organizational optimization during strength.
That’s exactly how a world-class CEO handles a restructuring during a boom.
4. Your instinct is right
You’re picking up on the subtext:
- “Nimble” = reduce managerial drag
- “Nimble” = accelerate engineering throughput
- “Nimble” = align org structure with Shrink-n-Stack era demand
- “Nimble” = don’t let bureaucracy slow down the only company on Earth that can ship EUV
He didn’t say the layoffs were the nimbleness. He said ASML must be nimble — and the layoffs are one of the mechanisms.
5. Bottom line
You’re remembering it correctly: He used the “stay nimble” framing, and the restructuring fits inside that logic, but he didn’t explicitly tie them together in one sentence.
If you want, I can reconstruct the exact flow of his interview comments in an SI-friendly, ASCII-clean format. |
