The chip industry's most important company is cutting managers. This doc shows how.
Europe’s most valuable company is getting in on Big Tech’s great managerial flattening.
Internal documents obtained by Business Insider show how ASML — which plays a critical role in the global semiconductor industry — plans to cut a wide range of management roles.
It comes after ASML said in January that it would cut 1,700 jobs and reshuffle its org chart to reduce management layers and focus on engineering, citing complaints from employees and customers that the company had become overly complex and inefficient.
A presentation given to employees at a February all-hands, which has not previously been reported, outlined a range of management roles, including department manager, group leader, and chief product owner, that would cease to exist under the new proposed structure. Business Insider has viewed a copy of the presentation.
ASML also told staff that it would reduce the number of architects — the senior technical roles responsible for coordinating projects — and give them more clearly defined responsibilities.
The company is planning a six-week summer recruitment freeze and has reduced the number of US staff expected to be impacted by the layoffs from 300 to 185 roles, according to separate documents viewed by Business Insider. ASML employs about 44,000 people globally.
In a letter to employees sent in February and seen by Business Insider, ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said employees had expressed concerns about the “consequences” of the transformation.
He said the company would aim to create around 1,400 new engineering roles as part of the reorganization.
“We realize that we will continue to grow at a fast pace and will need people on the operations side to help us achieve that growth,” Fouquet wrote.
An ASML spokesperson told Business Insider the reorganization plans were not final and said the company has already reduced the impact of the reorganization in the US.
“We are supporting our colleagues through this transformation in a responsible and thoughtful way, while also moving forward. We aim to reduce the period of uncertainty for people,” the spokesperson said.
Which roles does ASML want to cut?
Here are all the roles ASML told employees would cease to exist under the new management structure:
- Department Manager
- Group Leader
- Team Leader
- Project Lead
- Chief Product Owner
- Product Owner
- Scrum Masters
- Main Delivery Owner
- Release Train Engineers
- Program Manager
- Project Cluster Manager
Chip industry lynchpin
ASML is the only company on the planet that makes extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines at scale, which are critical for producing the chips that go inside smartphones, computers, and AI data centers.
The AI boom has driven strong demand for ASML’s machines, which can cost as much as $400 million and are bought by chipmakers including TSMC and Intel. The Dutch company reported booming sales and revenue last week.
ASML is the latest company to join Big Tech’s crusade against middle management. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta have all cut management roles in the past few years to make teams leaner and more efficient.
Under the proposed changes, the company’s software quality engineering team would become part of its procurement division, per the document, and mechanical and electrical engineering would be integrated into ASML’s manufacturing and customer support divisions.
The ASML spokesperson said booming demand for the Dutch firm’s lithography machines meant it expects to open “several hundreds” of new positions, with priority given to staff at risk of being laid off. They added that ASML’s continued growth will see it open new roles in AI, manufacturing, and customer support.
ASML is in negotiations with unions and the work council, an elected body of employee representatives, over the timing and structure of the layoffs.
Over 1,000 ASML workers joined a walkout at the company’s Dutch headquarters last month, and unions have called for a second walkout to take place during ASML’s shareholder meeting on Wednesday.