ASML is the world's largest manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines for advanced chips.
ASML, headquartered in Veldhoven in the Netherlands, makes highly complex systems that project patterns onto silicon wafers. Its EUV machines use extremely short-wavelength light to create some of the smallest features in modern semiconductor manufacturing.
The company is a major market-capitalization leader because advanced chip production depends on its equipment. ASML does not generally design the processors found in phones or servers; it supplies the machinery used by chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.
A frequent confusion is between ASML and chip foundries. TSMC manufactures chips, while ASML supplies critical lithography tools that help those foundries produce them.