ASML staffing changes could result in a net reduction of around 1700 positions

Scope and Nature of the Cuts

• Reports say ~3,000 of 4,500 engineering management roles are being eliminated.
• About 1,400 of those managers are expected to move into individual-contributor engineering roles; ~1,700 people are expected to leave, a net reduction of ~4% of ASML’s workforce.
• Cuts are concentrated in leadership in the Netherlands, with some impact in the US.
• Internally, engineers reportedly spend a large share of time in coordination/meetings; the reorg is framed as cutting red tape and “slow process flows.”

Reaction to Management Reductions

• Many commenters are strongly positive: view this as trimming middle-management “bloat” and restoring an engineering-centric culture.
• Several describe European tech and industrial firms (Philips, Siemens, German conglomerates, big banks) degenerating into top-heavy, process-obsessed organizations; ASML is praised for trying to avoid that fate.
• Others caution that good middle management is real and rare, and mass cuts often remove useful people while pushing the same work onto engineers without extra pay or time.
• There’s broader criticism of career ladders that force engineers into management for promotion; dual-track IC/manager systems are held up as better, but seen as weak in Europe.

Motivations and Signals

• One camp sees classic financial engineering: layoffs + €12B buyback to boost EPS and please shareholders, possibly at the expense of long-term capability.
• Another camp notes ASML’s long history of buybacks, strong order book, and past high-risk bets (e.g., EUV) and sees a mature, profitable monopoly returning excess cash while streamlining.
• Some speculate export controls on China and the extreme cost of next-gen tools dampen growth expectations and encourage cost discipline, though this is not clearly confirmed.

Share Buybacks Debate

• Intense debate over buybacks vs dividends:
  • Some call buybacks a path to “financialized hollow shells,” executive EPS games, and tax-advantaged cash extraction.
  • Others argue buybacks and dividends are economically similar, differing mainly in tax timing and portfolio effects; investors often rationally prefer buybacks.
• A minority argues that in a truly competitive market, firms wouldn’t have spare cash for either, because it would all go to R&D and talent.

Labor, Culture, and Geopolitics

• Dutch commenters note generous severance and unemployment benefits, but unions and works councils are reportedly angry about the cuts.
• Concern for expats on “highly skilled migrant” visas, who have limited time to find new roles.
• Some wonder if China will try to hire laid-off staff; others note non-competes and the deep, distributed supplier ecosystem that makes copying ASML hard.
• Broader threads touch on AI pushing firms to move faster, the overgrowth of “bullshit jobs” in management, and anxiety that white-collar work (including engineering and management) is increasingly precarious.