@augmentedcamel@andreasklinger If you read apple in China, apple exported their knowledge to China to build the full supply chain and got the best machines from Europe and bought a lot of them to get the price down. And then these expensive machines they’d own and pull out of the line if they did not behave
@andreasklinger@augmentedcamel I truly don’t understand why no one has built an Alibaba for Europe of indeed some sort of distributed McMaster catalogue. It’s a pure software play and would be highly profitable. There are so many cool hardware manufacturers in Europe but they are so damn hard to find..
The Netherlands is quietly becoming the world's #2 in wafer fab equipment, and most people haven't noticed.
Everyone knows ASML (lithography), ASM (ALD), and BESI (advanced packaging/assembly).
Now add Nearfield Instruments to the list.
They just closed a $380M Series D at a $1.6B valuation: the largest deep-tech round in Dutch history, led by Fidelity with Temasek, QIA, and Walden Catalyst Ventures joining in.
Their tech: a high-throughput, multi-head Atomic Force Microscopy system delivering atomic-scale 3D metrology at production speed. Non-destructive, in-line process control built for sub-3nm nodes, GAA transistors, hybrid bonding, and AI chip packaging.
KLA should be watching closely — a credible challenger is emerging in 3D metrology.
My read: NL has now passed Japan for #2 in fab equipment globally, behind only the US. China is #4 and closing the gap.