● Record Profits, Brutal Layoffs, AI Survival Strategy

[Urgent Diagnosis] Why is ASML firing 1,700 people despite record-breaking performance? The real survival strategy in the AI era hidden within the contradiction

Let me clearly point out the reason why you must read this article to the end right now.What we will cover today is not just simple layoff gossip of a foreign company.Through the extreme contradiction currently occurring inside ASML, which is called the heart of the global semiconductor industry, you will be able to grasp the massive changes that will hit the jobs of our office workers first.In particular, we will thoroughly dig into the real inner thoughts on ‘why a company with the largest surplus in history is cutting employees while simultaneously hiring 20,000 new people’ and the hidden workforce management trends of Big Tech companies, which other economic YouTubes or news never tell you.

1. The Flip Side of Record-Breaking Performance: ASML Drawing the Sword Even After Earning 32.7 Billion Euros

When ASML announced its annual performance last January, the market cheered.This is because it achieved an unprecedented record-breaking revenue of a whopping 32.7 billion euros.However, behind this glamorous report card was hidden a cold corporate restructuring plan to fire 1,700 employees.Specifically, 1,400 jobs at the Netherlands headquarters and 300 jobs at the US branch are on the verge of disappearing.The company wants to finish this layoff process as quickly as possible and is clamoring to conclude an agreement with the labor union by April 1st.

2. Who is the Target of the Layoffs?: ‘Managers’ Go and Keep Only ‘Engineers’

Here is a very important point we must pay attention to.The main targets of these job cuts are not the working-level staff on the production line, but rather the ‘middle manager’ positions in the technology and IT departments.According to the company spokesperson, this measure is to break down the ‘unnecessary bureaucracy’ that field engineers have usually complained about.In other words, it is a determination to cut out managerial positions that only stamp approval seals and do not make direct contributions to practical work, and to be reborn as a fast and agile organization.Although they state they will do their best to relocate some of the layoff targets to other engineering roles within the company, they have firmly drawn the line that the number of forced layoffs cannot be ‘zero’.

3. Angry Labor Unions and Anxious Employees: “You Said You Are Hiring 20,000 More?”

Right now, the internal labor market of ASML is literally in a state of extreme chaos.Employees are trembling with anxiety every day, asking, “What will happen to my position right now?”, but the company has not yet been able to provide individual answers.The point where the labor unions (FNV, CNV) are most furious is exactly the company’s ‘contradictory expansion plan’.In fact, the Eindhoven City Council recently approved a site plan for ASML to build a second massive campus that can accommodate 20,000 new employees.FNV negotiator Peter Reniers and CNV’s Rémy Biesmans are strongly protesting, saying, “Why does a company growing enough to hire 20,000 more people in the future insist on driving people onto the streets right now?”They mean that they cannot understand the company’s attitude of forcibly pushing forward by setting an unrealistic deadline of April 1st, even though there is enough time to relocate the workforce within the organization.

🔥 [Exclusive Insight] The Real Key Takeaway of This Situation That Nobody Else Will Tell You

Now, let’s stop organizing the facts here and really deep dive into this situation from our own perspective.Other news simply ends it at the level of “labor-management conflict is severe,” but there is a signal of the times that we, as office workers in our 30s, must surely read from this.That is, ‘the end of white-collar (managerial) workers amidst the global supply chain and AI revolution’ has begun.Even a super-dominant company like ASML strictly considers the workforce for ‘management and reporting’ as an expense to keep up with the speed of technological innovation.In the past, if a company made a lot of money, everyone received bonuses together and kept their positions, but now it is different.Companies in the era of AI and the Fourth Industrial Revolution are ready to cut out middle managers who do not engage in direct ‘technology creation’ such as coding or engineering at any time, no matter how much money they make.Hiring 20,000 new people is a demand for ‘real hands-on technicians’, and firing 1,700 people is a terrifying warning letter announcing that the era of ‘managers for the sake of management’ is over.If you are currently only doing planning or management-oriented tasks at work, this is exactly the reason why you must equip yourself with your own irreplaceable ‘hard skills’ as a weapon right now.

< Summary >

• Even though ASML recorded its highest-ever revenue (32.7 billion euros), it is pushing forward with a massive layoff of 1,700 people in a lightning-fast manner by April 1st.
• The targets of the job cuts are mainly ‘managerial positions’ in the IT and technology departments, and this is to eliminate bureaucracy and create an efficient organization centered on field engineers.
• At the same time, it is building a new campus with a capacity of 20,000 people in Eindhoven, so the labor union is strongly criticizing the company’s contradictory attitude, asking, “Why are you firing while expanding?”
• Key takeaway insight: Now, regardless of whether a company is running a surplus, a strictly hands-on AI era has arrived where ‘middle managers’ without direct technological productivity fall behind at any time.

[Related Articles…]Survival Strategies and Essential Skill Sets Analysis for Semiconductor Engineers in the AI EraThe Secret Restructuring Trends of Big Tech Companies in 2026 and Countermeasures

*Source: https://nltimes.nl/2026/03/13/asml-workers-still-uncertainty-weeks-announcement-1700-job-cuts