EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands — The European Union’s rules on artificial intelligence are driving tech workers and companies to Silicon Valley, a top executive from the Dutch chipmaking giant ASML has said.
“Why is it so difficult to get AI done in Europe? Simply because we started with regulating, to keep AI under the thumb,” ASML’s Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen told an event in Eindhoven on Monday evening.
“Someone who has a talent for artificial intelligence, the first thing they do with their hard-earned money … is buying a ticket to Silicon Valley,” Dassen said.
The comments — made during a campaign event for Dutch center-right party Christian Democratic Appeal ahead of national elections Oct. 29 — are another shot across the bow of the EU’s embattled artificial intelligence law.
ASML, Europe’s leading tech company by market cap, has been campaigning to pause the parts of the law that are not yet implemented. In July, the company’s executives signed onto a letter from 46 companies calling for a two-year pause.
The company in September became the largest shareholder of French AI company Mistral with a €1.3 billion investment, strengthening the influence of ASML when it comes to the EU’s handling of AI companies.
Dassen also complained about the lack of protection that Europe’s most prominent companies are receiving amid ongoing geopolitical turbulence.
“You should ask the Airbuses, the Nokias, the ASMLs … whether they feel protected by Europe at all times in this huge struggle of power that takes place between the United States and China.
“The answer won’t always be yes,” he said.
In recent years the Netherlands has faced sustained pressure from the U.S. to block some of ASML’s sales of the most advanced chip-making machines to China.
Last week, ASML’s top lobbyist, Frank Heemskerk, told POLITICO’s Competitive Europe summit in Brussels that “it’s not always easy” to meet EU politicians.
“It’s easier to get a meeting in the White House with a senior official than to get a meeting with a commissioner,” he added, quoting a previous company executive.
Dassen also urged Europe to finish work on a capital markets union — the economic policy effort to create a single market for capital across the EU — to improve startups’ access to funding. “We are very good at startups, we’re worthless at scale-ups,” he said.
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