ASML will give every employee a €20,000 bonus as AI demand drives record sales

TL;DR

ASML is giving all 45,000 employees a €20,000 share award vesting in 2030. Samsung, SK Hynix, and TSMC made similar payouts. AI profits are reaching workers.

ASML will give all employees globally a one-time €20,000 ($22,862) share award, the company confirmed on Friday. The bonus vests on January 1, 2030, for staff who remain with the company for the entire period. About 45,000 people work at Europe’s most valuable company.

The payout joins a wave of AI-boom bonuses across the chip industry. Samsung offered average bonuses of $340,000 to chip workers after record profits. SK Hynix made similar payouts. TSMC committed to boosting profit-sharing by more than 30% on average this year. Companies benefiting most from AI infrastructure spending are being pressed to share their earnings with workers. South Korea’s deputy PM warned in May that AI-driven labour conflicts will keep arising as “super-large companies” emerge.

ASML raised its annual sales forecast for the second time this year on Wednesday to between €43 billion and €45 billion, and outlined plans to expand production capacity by 30% for 2027. The company is cutting EUV machine build time by a third and is nearly sold out through 2028. As the only maker of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, every advanced chip from TSMC, Samsung, and Intel depends on ASML’s equipment.

The bonus doubles as a retention tool. ASML is in the middle of a restructuring that cuts management layers while simultaneously needing to hire and retain the engineers who build the most complex machines in the semiconductor supply chain. The 2030 vesting date means the award locks employees in for nearly four years, covering the period of ASML’s most aggressive capacity expansion. At roughly €900 million in total value, it is one of the largest single employee payouts in European tech history.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.