Companies in Amsterdam

Philips began in 1891 when Gerard Philips bought a bankrupt factory in Eindhoven to make carbon-filament lamps — and the company that would light the world nearly failed in its first year, saved only by his brother Anton's salesmanship. A century later, Philips had become one of the world's biggest electronics companies, with innovations ranging from the rotary electric shaver to the compact disc (developed with Sony). Today Philips is a health technology company, having sold its lighting business (Signify), its semiconductor arm (NXP), and its consumer electronics lines to focus on healthcare. Its current portfolio spans diagnostic imaging (MRI, CT, and ultrasound machines), image-guided therapy (interventional X-ray systems for minimally invasive surgery), and personal health (electric toothbrushes under the Sonicare brand, male grooming, and home respiratory care for sleep apnea). Its hospital monitoring systems track patients in ICUs worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam with about 69,000 employees and annual revenue near US$18 billion, Philips is navigating a difficult chapter — a massive recall of its sleep apnea devices triggered a global settlement and restructuring — while betting on connected care: devices that stream patient data to cloud platforms for AI-assisted diagnosis. For hospitals, Philips remains one of the 'big three' imaging suppliers alongside GE and Siemens Healthineers.

AkzoNobel is the world's largest paint and coatings company, headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with a corporate lineage that stretches back to 1646 and the founding of the Swedish company that would become Akzo. Following the 2008 acquisition of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), the group employs about 32,000 people and generates annual revenue of roughly EUR 10.7 billion from decorative paints, performance coatings, and specialty chemicals.\n\nThe company's decorative brand portfolio — Dulux, Sikkens, and Flexa — dominates retail paint aisles across Europe, China, and Southeast Asia, while its performance coatings division supplies marine, protective, automotive, powder, and wood coatings to industrial customers. AkzoNobel is a leader in powder coatings through its Interpon brand and in marine coatings through International, the segment's global benchmark, with products protecting ships, bridges, and offshore platforms against corrosion.\n\nFor industrial buyers, AkzoNobel is the scale supplier for OEM and refinish coatings — every major car brand, container shipping line, and wind-turbine builder specifies its products — and its raw-material procurement spans titanium dioxide, resins, and solvents in volumes that anchor the coatings supply chain.