(Yicai) May 24 -- ASML Holding is recruiting in China to support the Dutch semiconductor photolithography machine manufacturer's business development in the country, according to the director of human resources at ASML China.

ASML China’s headcount has been on the rise in recent years, and the firm continues to hire, Mao Qin told Yicai at a recent job hunting fair. The Shanghai-based unit currently employs 1,700 people, up from 1,000 in 2019, which is a similar employment growth rate to its global operations.

“More than half of ASML China’s employees are customer service engineers, and there are also about 400 technical developers,” Mao said. The Veldhoven-based firm needs a wider skillset as its products and services in China are becoming more diversified.

ASML is hunting for more cross-disciplinary staff in aerospace, automobile manufacturing and mechanical engineering, she said. Computational lithography is one of the company’s core businesses, but it is finding it difficult to find suitably qualified staff as many prefer to work for large language model and internet firms, which are more popular.

ASML, which has offices in 16 cities across China, is looking for professionals with a wide range of qualifications, from a polytechnic diploma to a doctoral degree, Mao said. Those with only a polytechnic diploma will be part of the company’s front-line equipment maintenance team, such as installation engineers.

“Net sales in China surged 30 percent last year and this year growth is expected to be around the same, but next year should be better,” Mao said.

ASML’s customer support engineer team and technical development team have the most employees. The measurement division is based in Beijing, and its computational lithography business, including many software development and algorithm engineers, are mostly based in Wuhan and Shenzhen.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor