ASML Holding
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| ASML Holding N.V. | |
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| Type | Public (Euronext: ASML, NASDAQ: ASMLD) |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Veldhoven, the Netherlands |
| Key people | Board of Management Eric Meurice CEO, Peter Wennink CFO, Martin van den Brink CTO, Klaus Fuchs Executive Vice President Operations |
| Industry | Technology |
| Products | Technology systems for the semiconductor industry |
| Revenue | ▲ € 3.579 billion (2006) |
| Operating income | ▲ € 871 million (2006) |
| Net income | ▲ € 625 million (2006) |
| Employees | 5,600 (2006) |
| Website | www.asml.com |
ASML is a Dutch company and the world’s primary supplier of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry. Of all the major chip producers worldwide, more than 80% are ASML customers. The company manufactures complex machines that are crucial in the production of integrated circuits (also called ICs or chips).
ASML systems – steppers and step-and-scan machines – use a lithographic process to image patterns onto silicon wafer (electronics). The wafers are covered with a film of light-sensitive material (photoresist), and a light source projects an image of an electronic circuit onto the wafer through a reduction lens. The wafer is then developed and undergoes further treatment to create the circuit pattern. This procedure is repeated up to 50 times creating a wafer full of IC's. When finished, these IC's are used to make electronic products that people use everyday in their homes, at work or when they travel, such as computers, TV's, cameras, mobile telephones, smart cards and MP3 players. A majority of all computer chips produced worldwide are manufactured with ASML machines (data 2007).
The greatest challenge that ASML and its customers face is to create ever-smaller chips, with more features, more storage, faster operation and lower energy consumption. All this has to do with Moore’s Law. Lithography systems are the main driver for reduction of the critical features of the circuit which determines the chip size. The smallest images that ASML systems can currently create are 37nm (February 2007). ASML maintains its market leadership through a huge productivity advantage over its competitors combined with consistent overlay and imaging performance.
ASML is a technology leader with a strong market position. ASML’s corporate headquarters is in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. It is also the location for research, development, manufacturing and assembly. ASML has a worldwide customer base and over sixty service points in sixteen countries. The company is listed on both the AEX and NASDAQ Stock Exchanges, as ASML.
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