I think GP's point is that when you consider their output they're really not the bigger names.

Perhaps it's because at least in NXP's case the reason why headquarters are there and not somewhere else is that the Netherlands are a tax haven for IP-heavy companies.

Are you thinking about STMicroelectronics perhaps? They are incorporated in the Netherlands.

NXP has a long history in the Netherlands. It started as a division within Philips (Dutch company) and it has done a lot of production work in the Netherlands.

NXP originated from Philips afaik, so it is a by product of a Dutch company. Why would headquarters move elsewhere?

Here is some more information about one of the schemes where Dutch law helps avoiding taxes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Sandwich

Small countries like NL and Ireland don't really have a choice. Without giving tax incentives multinationals would just choose the bigger markets (China, U.S, India, Germany maybe). Is it "fair" that the U.S and China dominate everything between themselves?

Maybe true, a lot of NXP projects actually happen in Austria for example

Yes sure, but in the scope of geostrategic developments, opening with Germany and France totally makes sense with regards to the general public, as they won't read NL and think "oh, it's on".