When ASML – the Veldhoven-based company that manufactures the world’s most advanced lithography machines, without which modern semiconductors simply cannot be made – decided to establish its first dedicated training facility in the United States, the decision carried significant strategic and geopolitical weight.

Since 2022, the United States government has made the onshoring of semiconductor manufacturing a national industrial priority. Intel, TSMC, and Samsung each committed to multi-billion-dollar fabrication plants in Arizona – a state that had positioned itself aggressively as the hub of America’s new chip manufacturing corridor. But the bottleneck of production lies in the engineering talent: specifically, engineers trained to operate and service ASML’s highly complex DUV and EUV machines, which underpin virtually every advanced chip produced globally.

In November 2025, ASML responded by inaugurating a $15 million Technical Training Academy in Phoenix. This initiative represents the company’s first dedicated US training centre in nearly two decades. The 30,000 square foot facility was designed to train over 1,000 semiconductor engineers annually, drawing from ASML’s global curriculum and deploying its most experienced Dutch and European field engineers as instructors on rotation. The academy was built simultaneously to serve existing customers in Arizona and position ASML as an indispensable partner in the broader US industrial renaissance. This strategic undertaking therefore represents a relationship-building investment as much as an operational one.

Lora Consulting collaborated with consulting partners to provide the initial US market entry framework for ASML’s operational expansion strategy by conducting a city-by-city prioritisation assessment across Phoenix, Austin, and Boise, and a further expansion analysis of 12 US states for current or future consideration. We used rigorous assessment criteria and reached a conclusion by evaluating proximity to anchor customers, talent pipeline strength and real estate viability.

The choice of Phoenix was tactical on multiple levels. Beyond its proximity to the region’s major fab projects, Arizona offered a cooperative regulatory environment, an established manufacturing workforce pipeline through Arizona State University, and direct incentives from the Arizona Commerce Authority.

Further US locations in Texas and Idaho, both home to major ASML customer operations, were confirmed as part of the next phase of domestic expansion.

For a Dutch company with deep roots in Eindhoven’s high-tech manufacturing corridor, the Phoenix academy represented a significant cultural and operational expansion. The business has moved from a pure equipment supply model to an embedded training and services partner model in the world’s most strategically important chip manufacturing market.