ASML's origins date back to 1984. The company was born of a joint venture between Philips and ASMI (for Advanced Semiconductor Materials International). In the 1970s, Philips was a huge conglomerate with a presence in a variety of sectors: audiovisual, lighting, healthcare systems (the branch it has retained), and even soccer with the PSV Eindhoven club, whose acronym stands for Philips Sport Vereniging Eindhoven.
The beginnings were difficult. ASML needed substantial financial support to cope with its heavy R&D expenditure. After gaining independence from ASM International, the group held its own, although it did not fare well in the lithography market in the 1990s, where market share was held mainly by Japan's Nikon and Canon. But over the years, ASML has proved itself formidable in its ability to innovate and improve its technology.
Today, ASML holds a virtual monopoly on lithographic machines. But what is lithography in the world of chips? Lithography is a manufacturing process for etching precise patterns onto silicon wafers. The process uses ultraviolet light to expose a layer of photoresist, a photosensitive material, through a mask containing the pattern to be reproduced. The exposed areas are then developed and chemically etched to create the fine structures, such as transistors and interconnections, that make up electronic chips.
Lithographic machines are ultra-complex. The unit price easily exceeds 150 million euros. Quite simply, they are essential for designing the chips that are indispensable to the operation of telephones, electric vehicles, security systems, medical equipment, network solutions and, of course, artificial intelligence.
Indeed, the graphics processing units, Nvidia's famous GPUs, essential for AI models, are produced by Taiwan's TSMC. TSMC, in turn, relies on ASML's lithography machines to produce these chips. So you can see why ASML is a company of global strategic importance. In this sense, it also incorporates a political risk that should not be overlooked: China accounts for just over a quarter of its sales, and the USA is keeping a close eye on this in its bid to limit China's access to sensitive technologies.
Technologies sold by ASML

ASML produces several lithography technologies that use ultraviolet light to etch microscopic patterns on silicon wafers and create complex chips. The major difference between these technologies lies in the wavelength of the light used. EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography) machines are the most precise (13.5 nanometers). This is the most complex and expensive technology. The other machines (excluding L-line) belong to DUV (Deep Ultraviolet) technology, which refers to shorter wavelengths, typically between 190 and 250 nanometers. This does not mean that DUV machines are marginal, quite the contrary. While EUV enables the production of very high-resolution chips, DUV enables mass production, which is less demanding but just as essential. What's more, DUV has been used in semiconductor production for several decades: it is therefore considered reliable and versatile.

ASML's machines are designed to produce two main semiconductor families: logic chips (the "brains" that process information in electronic devices) account for 58% of sales, and memory chips (for storing large quantities of data in very small areas) for 22%. The remainder of sales is recurrent: mainly from maintenance and servicing of the installed base of machines.
ASM International operates in the semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment market. The company offers deposition tools in very specific fields.
Its main product line is ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition). ALD accounts for almost half the company's sales. This is the most advanced type of deposition, because as transistors shrink, ever greater precision - now down to the atom - is required to create ultra-thin films on wafers (silicon wafers).
ASMI also specializes in silicon epitaxy and silicon carbide epitaxy (since the takeover of Italy's LPE in 2022), constituting the second major product line. These solutions include the deposition of layers that serve specific purposes in complex chip manufacturing processes. The major difference between silicon and silicon carbide epitaxy is that the latter, which combines silicon and carbon, is adapted to withstand higher temperatures and voltages, making it ideal for extreme environments. It is widely used, for example, to enhance the capacity of batteries used in electric vehicles. Silicon carbide epitaxy is a fast-growing market, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 30% by 2028.
Finally, ASM International is also active in the market for vertical furnaces (such as the Sonora or the A400 DUO), which are used for the thermal treatment of silicon wafers. These furnaces are used for processes such as dopant diffusion to modify silicon's electrical properties, oxidation to create layers on the material's surface, annealing to repair the material's crystalline structure, and thin-film deposition via processes such as PECVD (Plasma-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition). These vertical furnaces are not to be confused with the lithography machines used to engrave patterns on wafers.
SONORA vertical furnace marketed by ASM International for wafer heat treatment (source: ASM International).

ASML vs ASM International: what are the differences?
On the one hand, we have ASML, with a market capitalization of 295 billion euros, a specialist in lithography machines. On the other, ASM International, with a market capitalization of 30 billion euros, operates in various specialties used in chip production. Both companies are Dutch and highly strategic, thanks to the extremely advanced and complex technologies they market. They also have a historical link, even if they no longer have any shareholders. ASML was born of a joint venture between ASMI and Philips.