Eindhoven city plans to buy ‘Brainport’ tech campus

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By Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM – The City of Eindhoven plans to purchase an industrial park that serves as an incubator for the region’s tech manufacturing industry and is used by computer chip equipment giant ASML, authorities said on Wednesday.

Alderman Stijn Steenbakkers called the purchase of Brainport Industries Campus (BIC-1) a “chance that we have to seize with both hands” when recognition is increasing that government control of vital infrastructure is desirable. 

The proposed financial terms will remain confidential until the city’s parliament approves the deal, with a decision expected on Feb. 25.

Another Eindhoven industrial park, larger than BIC-1, the High Tech Campus once built by Philips Electronics, was sold to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC for 1 billion euros ($1.04 billion) in 2021, prompting an investigation by the Economic Affairs ministry into whether measures were needed to safeguard technology developed there.

BIC-1 is used by several ASML suppliers, as well as technical schools, startup firms and software company Meta. It is owned by British firm Capreon, which is expected to remain the site’s manager after the sale, the city said. 

The site includes a hundred thousand square metres of buildings and surrounding land in northwest Eindhoven and houses 2,500 workers and students. 

Eindhoven, a growing tech hub, is planning additional Brainport campuses on adjacent land it owns, in part to house ASML as it grows. The first, BIC-2, is expected to begin construction next year.

The national government last year said it planned to invest $2.7 billion to improve infrastructure around Eindhoven to prevent ASML, headquartered in neighbouring Veldhoven, from basing major new operations outside the Netherlands.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Peter Graff and Barbara Lewis)