ASML, Eindhoven Tech University to build new research facility

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - ASML Holding NV, Europe's largest technology firm, said on Monday it will build a new research centre including a clean room together with Eindhoven's Technical University, a project expected to cost several hundred million euros.

TU Eindhoven said it expects the project will lead to 40 new PhDs annually at the university in fields related to semiconductor manufacturing including nano materials, photonics and quantum computing.

The facility will have space for around 500 researchers in all, including hundreds from ASML itself, university spokesperson Frans Raaijmakers said.

ASML dominates the global market for lithography equipment, machines that use highly focused beams of light to help create the circuitry of computer chips.

Like many technology firms, ASML has struggled to find engineering talent against a tight labour market.

Spokeswoman Kelsey Zeegers said the project is part of broader plans for "cross-fertilization" between technology firms in the Eindhoven region and the university.

Economic growth in the Dutch province that includes Eindhoven and nearby Veldhoven, where ASML is headquartered, has been stronger than in the rest of the Netherlands over the past decade as the region is becoming a tech hub.

"What's happening in Brainport (the Eindhoven region) is quite amazing," Zeegers said.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Christina Fincher)