A senior executive of Dutch semiconductor giant ASML has criticised the European Union for being inaccessible to Europe's companies. He made the remarks during Politico's Competitive Europe summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
Frank Heemskerk, executive vice president of global public affairs at ASML, said it is not always easy to have access to top EU policymakers and also revealed that the company's CEO had a two-hour meeting with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said political leaders should sit down with the companies investing money.
"It's not always easy", he said when asked if he felt the company had sufficient access to top European policymakers such as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Frank Heemskerk.
"It's easier to get a meeting in the White House with a senior official than to get a meeting with a commissioner," he added, citing a previous company executive, according to the Politico report.
The comment came after Heemskerk revealed that ASML's chief executive Christophe Fouquet had a two-hour meeting with PM Modi.
"After an hour and a half of listening, he [Modi] said you're too friendly, tell me what we can do better," Heemskerk said, according to Politico report.
European policymakers would do well to take note, according to the ASML executive: "The political leaders should sit down with the companies that are investing money," he said.
Heemskerk also spoke about the ASML's recent EUR1.3 billion deal with French Artificial Intelligence company Mistral, which was seen as a major boost for Europe's ambition of enhancing technological sovereignty.
"Of course it's easier that it's a European company, it is easier to understand each other," Heemskerk noted, according to Politico.
The reason two companies are collaborating is "because of the focus of Mistral on industrial AI," he explained, adding, "It's much more an industrial AI focus than anything around geopolitics."
Semiconductors power modern electronics, acting as the "brain" of devices from smartphones to satellites.
India's semiconductor journey reached a milestone early last month as the first set of Made-in-India chips from a pilot line was presented to PM Modi by Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The India Semiconductor Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet in December 2021. With an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore, the programme aims to provide financial support for investments in semiconductor fabrication, display manufacturing and chip design to strengthen India's integration into global electronics value chains.
Envisioned to be led by global experts in the Semiconductor and Display industry, ISM aims to build a strong semiconductor and display ecosystem, positioning India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design, while serving as the nodal agency for the efficient and seamless implementation of semiconductor and display schemes.
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