ASML is the world’s leading producer of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines for advanced chips.
Lithography systems project patterns onto silicon wafers, creating the microscopic features that become transistors and other circuit elements. ASML’s extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, systems use 13.5-nanometer light to print extremely small patterns for leading-edge semiconductor production.
ASML is headquartered in Veldhoven, Netherlands, and sells highly complex systems to chip manufacturers rather than making most chips itself. The scarcity and strategic importance of its technology have made the company one of Europe’s most valuable public companies by market capitalization.
TSMC, Samsung, and Intel are chip manufacturers, not the same kind of equipment supplier. ASML also makes deep-ultraviolet systems, so EUV is a specific part of its broader lithography business.