  The occupancy of the 4f^n contributions in the Kondo semiconductors
CeM2Al10(M = Ru, Os and Fe) has been quantitatively determined by means of
bulk-sensitive hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) on the Ce 3d core
levels. Combining a configuration interaction scheme with full multiplet
calculations allowed to accurately describe the HAXPES data despite the
presence of strong plasmon excitations in the spectra. The configuration
interaction parameters obtained from this analysis -- in particular the
hybridization strength V_eff and the effective f binding energy Delta_f --
indicate a slightly stronger exchange interaction in CeOs2Al10 compared to
CeRu2Al10, and a significant increase in CeFe2Al10. This verifies the
coexistence of a substantial amount of Kondo screening with magnetic order and
places the entire CeM2Al10 family in the region of strong exchange
interactions.
