ASML makes the extreme-ultraviolet lithography machines used to manufacture advanced chips.
ASML is headquartered in Veldhoven, Netherlands, and supplies semiconductor manufacturers with lithography systems that project extremely precise patterns onto silicon wafers. Its EUV technology uses 13.5-nanometer ultraviolet light to print some of the smallest features in modern chip designs. The machines are central to advanced manufacturing, although ASML does not design the processors that customers ultimately sell.
ASML began in 1984 as a joint venture between Philips and ASM International. The company’s name originally referred to Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography. It became a major independent equipment supplier as chipmakers adopted increasingly sophisticated manufacturing processes. A frequent mix-up is treating ASML as a chipmaker; it manufactures the equipment, while companies such as TSMC, Samsung, and Intel operate semiconductor fabrication plants.