Dutch firm expands near Atlanta to support U.S. semiconductor supply chain

A global engineering and manufacturing company announced Tuesday it will invest $77 million to expand a metro Atlanta facility that supports semiconductor production.

Netherlands-based VDL Groep said the expansion will take place over several years and will add about 120 employees. The expansion announcement comes roughly eight years after VDL first established its Hall County operation, breaking into the American production market.

“Companies like VDL Groep not only continue to choose Georgia for an initial investment,” Gov. Brian Kemp said in a news release. “They also choose to grow their footprint here again and again because of our pro-business environment and partnership approach.”

Semiconductors are a core building block required for electronic devices, many of which are facets of modern life. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade, a shortage of semiconductors and computer chips rippled through supply chains and prompted a new wave of American investments to bolster the system.

Georgia has a few semiconductor-related facilities, namely a fast-expanding campus by Korean firm Absolics east of Atlanta. Willem van der Leegte, VDL’s president and CEO, said Georgia’s ecosystem helped prompt the decision to expand in Hall County.

“For VDL Groep, the state of Georgia is an attractive base because of its connectivity to the entire U.S., which is a world leader in the high-tech and semiconductor market,” he said in the news release. “The country is home to a thriving ecosystem, therefore making it one of the most strategically important markets with significant opportunities for Dutch high-tech companies like ours.”

The Hall County facility at 5459 Aloha Way currently employs approximately 70 workers, focusing on sheet metal fabrication, welding, machining and clean-room system integration. The expansion will add new milling capabilities and an expanded clean-room for manufacturing semiconductor capital equipment.