One way to track the speed of the AI boom is to follow the hardware supply chain. Nvidia is the classic example: As AI companies build out data centers, they're buying up billions of dollars of GPUs each month, turning Nvidia into the most valuable company on earth. But Nvidia has suppliers too, and looking at them can give us an even longer-term view of the market.
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, which holds the world's largest trove of paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, has announced plans to open an outpost in Eindhoven. The museum, which showcases only a fraction of its more than 1m objects, said on Thursday it would construct the 3,500 sq metre centre over the next six to eight years. Located in parkland by the River Dommel and close to Eindhoven's central railway station, it will be built with support from the city council and from ASML, which makes semiconductor machinery in nearby Veldhoven.
In 2024, ASML sold an essential component for chip machines to a Chinese military research institute. The deliveries raise questions about the effectiveness of Dutch export controls, while the government claims that not all components require a license. This is according to research by Nieuwsuur. The component ended up at the 24th Research Institute of the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). The Chinese government designates this state entity as a military-industrial group and develops high-quality defense technology for missile systems and drones.
