ASML designs the EUV lithography machines essential for producing the most advanced computer chips.
ASML Holding is a Dutch semiconductor-equipment company headquartered in Veldhoven, Netherlands. Its extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography systems use 13.5-nanometer light to project extraordinarily small circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. These systems are used to manufacture leading-edge logic and memory chips.
ASML does not make the processors found in phones or servers. Instead, it supplies the specialized machines used by chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel. Each EUV system is an exceptionally complex industrial product assembled from components made by a global network of suppliers.
ASML's position is often described as a technology monopoly in EUV lithography, because it is the only commercial supplier of these systems. That does not mean it supplies every kind of semiconductor-equipment tool; companies such as Applied Materials and Lam Research remain important in other manufacturing stages.