Berlin – After the fire in a production hall of the Dutch company ASML near Gradestrasse in Britz, production there still could not be fully resumed. As the supplier of the chip industry announced on Friday after a preliminary investigation, the production of parts for important machines for the production of electronic chips is still impaired.
Last Sunday, a 200 square meter hall caught fire on the company premises. On the following Monday, the incident caused the stock market value of one of the 50 largest listed companies in the euro zone to drop by ten billion euros. ASML is considered to be the largest provider of so-called lithography systems, on which microchip manufacturers around the world are absolutely dependent. Around 80 percent of all chip manufacturers are customers of the company.
ASML took over the production facility in Berlin in 2020 with the purchase of Berliner Glas, a company founded in 1952. After the fire, part of the initially interrupted production could now be resumed there. Another production section is still at a standstill. According to ASML, it is not yet clear when production can start again there. But work is being done to keep the consequences for customers low. If possible, ASML intends to present new findings on the fire from the beginning of January on January 19th together with the annual report. ASML employs around 1200 people in Britz.
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