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ASML became indispensable to advanced chipmaking by turning extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography into a production technology—and by building the supplier, customer and engineering relationships needed to keep improving it. Its position is unusually strong in EUV, but it does not control all chipmaking equipment: Canon and Nikon compete in deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography, and ASML’s machines are one part of a much larger chip-manufacturing process.
What does ASML make, and what does lithography do?
ASML sells lithography systems and related products and services to semiconductor manufacturers. A lithography system projects patterns onto a silicon wafer. In broad terms, using light with a shorter wavelength makes it possible to print smaller features, though making a working chip also depends on many other steps, materials and tools.
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EUV is one kind of lithography, not a machine that makes a finished chip by itself. ASML’s business extends beyond scanners to metrology, inspection, computational lithography and support, as described in its 2025 annual-report materials. Those capabilities help customers measure and optimize how patterns are transferred during production.
How did ASML build its position?
1984: a venture with a difficult starting point
Philips and semiconductor-equipment company ASM International formed ASM Lithography in 1984 to develop systems for the semiconductor market. Philips’ wafer-stepper work contributed to the venture’s starting point. ASML’s official history describes its early years as precarious: the young company had few customers and needed sustained investment.
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The PAS 5500 helped win customers
Introduced in the 1990s, the PAS 5500 platform combined productivity and resolution in a way that helped ASML secure important customers. That customer base mattered as much as the machine itself: it gave the company a foundation from which to scale and continue investing.
Immersion, dual-stage scanning and a broader process approach
In the 2000s, ASML developed immersion technology to improve resolution and TWINSCAN dual-stage technology to raise productivity. It also began what it calls a “holistic lithography” approach, bringing scanners together with measurement and process optimization. The strategic shift was from selling a machine in isolation toward supporting a more integrated manufacturing process.
The long EUV industrialization effort
ASML began shipping EUV prototype tools in 2010. Turning the technology into production equipment took years of research, work at customer sites and coordination with suppliers. ASML says EUV took more than two decades to develop and that it invested more than €6 billion in EUV research and development over 17 years. These are company-reported development figures, not a measure of the cost of an individual system.
In 2013, ASML acquired Cymer to accelerate development of the EUV light source. ASML says customers began ordering production-ready NXE:3400 systems in batches in 2016. That progression—from prototypes, through customer learning, to production orders—helps explain why EUV leadership was difficult to establish quickly.
The roadmap continues beyond the first production generation
In its 2025 reporting, ASML describes the NXE:3800E EUV system, the first full-specification TWINSCAN EXE:5200B shipment to a customer, and its first advanced-packaging product shipment. High-NA EUV is the next system-generation push. ASML develops its High-NA optics with Carl Zeiss SMT; the reported shipment milestones show continued development, but do not by themselves establish how quickly customers will adopt the systems or what production volumes they will reach.
Why has EUV been so hard for competitors to match?
EUV’s potential comes with an exceptionally demanding engineering problem. EUV light is absorbed by ordinary materials, so the optical system uses mirrors rather than the conventional transmissive lenses used in other systems. A partner account describes the optics as using more than 100 layers of precision-engineered materials. Producing a useful system therefore requires more than choosing a shorter wavelength: the source, optics, scanner and production process all have to work together reliably.
ASML’s capability is also an ecosystem. Its official materials identify Carl Zeiss SMT as its optics partner and Cymer as a source-technology partner, alongside other research and industrial collaborators. The company’s history documents a long-standing Zeiss partnership and the Cymer acquisition. The chronology supports an important interpretation: ASML’s advantage was not created by a single invention alone, but reinforced by system integration and relationships with specialized suppliers over many years.
That ecosystem is both a strength and a dependency. Highly specialized optics and light-source technology are difficult parts of the EUV stack; ASML’s progress relies on collaboration with companies that develop them.
Does ASML have a monopoly on lithography?
No—not across lithography as a whole. The clearest distinction is between EUV and DUV. ASML’s 2025 annual-report strategic section says it is currently the world’s only manufacturer of EUV lithography systems. Canon and Nikon remain competitors in DUV, according to ASML’s 2025 SEC filing. EUV leadership should not be confused with control of every lithography system, every fab or the entire chipmaking supply chain.
The European Commission’s 2026 staff working document reports the following global lithography sales figures for 2023. These are historical market-year estimates, not 2026 market shares.
| Market measure | Reported share | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Overall lithography sales | 92% | European Commission, 2026 document; 2023 market data |
| EUV lithography | 100% | European Commission, 2026 document; 2023 market data |
The same Commission document gives global lithography sales of USD 25.1 billion in 2023. The figure describes the market that year; it should not be read as a current market-size estimate. The EUV share is a narrower segment measure, while the overall figure includes lithography outside EUV.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What limits ASML’s control of the chessboard?
Customer concentration
ASML’s 2025 annual report identifies customer concentration as a business risk: the company sells to a relatively small number of customers. That makes its business exposed to the plans and spending of a concentrated customer base, even though the filing does not turn that risk into a specific demand forecast.
Export-license requirements
ASML’s 2025 Form 20-F says EUV systems, specified DUV immersion systems and some other products require export licenses under applicable Dutch, U.S. and other laws. The filing describes a licensing framework and covered product categories; it does not support treating every sale to a particular country as prohibited or assuming a particular policy outcome.
Demand cycles and technology execution
The 2025 annual report also discusses risks tied to market demand and technology development, including the need for ASML and its suppliers to keep making progress. A leading position is not a guarantee of smooth growth: customers’ investment timing, continued engineering advances and supplier execution all matter.
What explains ASML’s rise in one view?
ASML built a strategic bottleneck by combining a scalable lithography platform, years of customer and process learning, a costly EUV development effort and close work with specialized suppliers. Its strongest exclusivity is in EUV, where its systems occupy a critical role in advanced manufacturing. The chessboard metaphor works for that bottleneck—not as a claim that ASML makes chips, faces no rivals, or controls semiconductor production as a whole.
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