Netherlands is Europe's 2nd largest exporter of AI equipment

After Germany, the Netherlands is the largest European exporter of equipment that enables the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI), credit insurer Atradius said in a new report. Our country accounts for 7 percent of global exports of AI-related goods. The export value of over €80 billion places it in 11th position worldwide.

The Netherlands relies primarily on chip manufacturing equipment and its logistical function. Thanks to ASML, the Netherlands is the world’s largest exporter of machines for the production of semiconductors. In addition, the Netherlands plays an important logistical role in the re-export of routers and network switches, among other things, Atradius writes.

The global market is “highly concentrated,” the credit insurer notes. Asian economies account for 65 percent of AI-related exports. Furthermore, the 15 largest exporting countries represent up to 90 percent of global exports.

As a result, Europe remains dependent on a small number of countries in Asia and the United States for many crucial components. “Precisely now that AI is being scaled up rapidly, this concentration makes the chain more vulnerable to geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions,” said economist Theo Smid of Atradius.

“For Europe, it is therefore crucial to reduce dependency wherever possible and to strengthen its own position in crucial parts of the AI chain,” Smid said. This can be achieved through greater supplier diversification and investments in European technological capacity, he said.

The development and application of AI require numerous goods, including raw materials, processors, memory chips, servers, network equipment and machines for chip production. Global exports of these AI-related goods represented a value of over €2.9 trillion in 2024. That is approximately three times as much as ten years ago. With an export value of over €80 billion, the Netherlands ranks 11th worldwide.