- The University
- 28/02/2025
TU/e invests 200 million in new lab building and cleanroom
TU/e is investing 200 million euros in a new lab building and clean room, the university announced today. This investment follows the financial commitment from project Beethoven, intended to boost the position of semicon education and research.
The plans for a new lab building and clean room were already announced, but now the TU/e funding is officially complete. The financial boost is for a multifunctional building with 5000 m2 of flexible laboratories, organized by research themes, offices and teaching spaces. There will also be a new cleanroom building of about 1,200 m2, suitable for research and teaching purposes, and about 500 m2 of laboratories and offices. Construction of the clean room is expected to start in 2026 and the lab building a year later.
‘This is a crucial step in ensuring we meet the huge demand for top-tier engineering talent, especially in the Brainport region’, says rector magnificus Silvia Lenaerts in TU/e’s press release. ‘By investing in these facilities, we strengthen both TU/e as well as the Brainport region and The Netherlands as a leading hub for semiconductor education, research and innovation, while also reinforcing Europe's strategic autonomy in this critical sector.’
ASML
Patrick Groothuis, vice-president of TU/e, says in the press release: ‘We are very proud to be able to decide to invest in these projects, especially in a time when higher education has to deal with budget cuts. And we are very thankful for the contribution of ASML to our new cleanroom.’
Earlier, ASML invested 80 million euros in the clean room to be realized on campus, part of a broader collaboration with the university. That was the largest deal ever concluded by the university with an industrial partner.
Beethoven
In addition, the financial space is made possible by the long-term financial approach of the university, which has had longstanding plans to invest in new laboratories.
From the National Microchip Talent Reinforcement Plan - the official name of project Beethoven - 90 million euros has been allocated, a portion of which is meant for the lab building and clean room. That investment will also be used to train more than 1,900 additional master's students for more engineers in the high-tech and semiconductor industry in the Brainport region.
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