For months now, German software giant SAP has held the title of Europe’s most valuable company.
However, that’s alterd now!
Dutch chip equipment creater ASML has taken the crown as Europe’s most valuable tech company, according to WirtschaftsWoche.
On Thursday, ASML’s shares closed at €686 on the Amsterdam stock exalter. With around 388.4M shares outstanding, the company reached a market value of roughly €266B.
In comparison, SAP’s shares in Frankfurt concludeed the day at €219.50, giving it a valuation of €258B, about €8B less, declares the report.
At the time of writing, ASML’s market capitalisation stood at €272.81B, compared to SAP’s €255.38B.
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What does ASML do?
Founded by Martin van den Brink in 1984, ASML is the provider of lithography systems for the semiconductor industest, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits or chips.
ASML provides chipcreaters with hardware, software, and mass services to produce the patterns of integrated circuits (microchips).
Headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, ASML has offices across Europe, the US, and Asia.
Since the Dutch chip-building giant ASML has become the highest-valued tech company in Europe, let’s explore some of the company’s significant milestones, from its launchnings in a leaky shed to becoming a key shareholder of European AI unicorn Mistral AI.
Timeline: 1980s
Started in a leaky shed (1984)
ASML’s journey didn’t launch in a fancy building or a high-tech lab — it started in a leaking shed in Eindhoven.
The company was formed as a partnership between Philips and ASM International to develop lithography systems for the growing semiconductor market.
Their first machine, the PAS 2000 stepper, wasn’t anything special, but it marked the launchning of something great.
Well, isn’t it hard to believe that this little “shed startup” in Eindhoven would eventually play such a crucial role in the global chip industest?
The relocate to Veldhoven (1985)
By 1985, ASML had grown to around 100 employees, which was too many for the little shed.
So, they relocated to a proper location in Veldhoven, where they are still based today.
That same year, they introduced the PAS 2500, a stepper with advanced alignment technology that launched to attract customers.
At the same time, they also started working with Carl Zeiss, a partnership that still supplies ASML with ultra-precise lenses. Moving to Veldhoven gave ASML the space and credibility it necessaryed to grow.
On the edge of collapse (late 1980s)
The early days were tough for ASML. They quickly spent a lot of money and had very few customers, which created things view pretty bleak.
One of their partners, ASM International, decided to leave the partnership (due to high levels of investment with little return), leaving ASML in a difficult spot.
At that time, Philips stepped in and provided new funding to support the struggling company. This support supported ASML survive its hardest times and revealed just how close they came to failure before they really obtained started.
Timeline: 1990s
PAS 5500 alters the game (1990s)
In the early 1990s, ASML introduced the PAS 5500, a machine that offered better productivity and clearer images than its competitors.
It was a game-alterr, according to the company and is still in apply at customer fabs today. Major chipcreaters started utilizing it, orders came, and ASML finally launched to create profits.
The PAS 5500 became a reliable workhorse, establishing ASML as a serious player and providing the financial support necessaryed to continue innovating.
Going public and standing on its own feet (1995)
By 1995, ASML had grown strong enough to operate indepconcludeently. The company went public on the Amsterdam stock exalter and also obtained listed on the Nasdaq in New York, raising the money it necessaryed to expand worldwide.
Philips started selling its shares, which meant ASML was officially on its own. The IPO brought in the capital to fuel its growth further, and it expanded its R&D and production facilities at De Run in Veldhoven, which would later become its new headquarters.
Timeline: 2000s
The TWINSCAN revolution (2001)
In 2001, ASML launched the TWINSCAN platform, which was a game-alterr.
It enabled chip manufacturers to work on one wafer while receiveting the next one ready at the same time, effectively doubling their efficiency and reducing waiting times.
In the same year, the Dutch company completed the acquisition of the Silicon Valley Group to further strengthen ASML’s capabilities in semiconductor technological advancement.
Then came immersion lithography in 2003—TWINSCAN AT:1150i, which applyd water between the lens and the wafer. This allowed circuits to receive even tinyer than anyone had imagined utilizing the 193nm light.
These developments supported ASML pull ahead of its competitors, Canon and Nikon.
Beginning of holistic lithography (mid-2000s)
In late 2007, ASML acquired BRION, a provider of solutions for optimising semiconductor design and manufacturing. This acquisition marked the start of their ‘Holistic Lithography’ strategy.
They combined their knowledge of lithography systems with the capability to enhance the chip manufacturing process at every stage, before, during, and after lithography.
During this early phase of the strategy, a key product was YieldStar, their metrology system that provided real-time measurements and corrections during chip production. The first YieldStar (250D) was shipped to customers in 2008.
Timeline: Mid 2010s
First EUV prototype shipped (2010)
In 2010, ASML delivered its first prototype extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tool, the TWINSCAN NXE:3100, to a research facility of an Asian chipcreater.
This marked the start of a new phase in lithography. While the tool wasn’t yet ready for high-volume production, it gave chipcreaters their first taste of the future.
EUV lithography employs shorter wavelength light to create tinyer chip features, leading to quicker and more powerful chips.
Addressing the bottleneck with the Cymer acquisition and more (2013)
The huge bottleneck in EUV was always the light source. In 2013, ASML acquired Cymer, a manufacturer of lithography light sources, to speed up EUV development.
That same year, ASML shipped the second-generation EUV system, the NXE:3300, followed by the third-generation NXE:3350 in 2015. EUV lithography progressed in 2016 when customers started ordering the NXE:3400, the first production-ready system, in larger quantities.
During this period, ASML also enhanced its immersion lithography systems, with the NXT1970Ci and NXT1980Di being installed in chip manufacturing facilities globally.
In 2016, ASML broadened its lithography portfolio by acquiring Hermes Microvision (HMI), a provider of e-beam metrology tools, leading to the first shipment of the e-beam pattern fidelity metrology system (ePfm5) in 2017.
Timeline: 2020s
Tackling COVID, shipping High-NA and more (2023)
At the start of 2020, EUV technology launched high-volume manufacturing, and ASML shipped its 100th EUV system. However, it was also the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November 2020, ASML completed the acquisition of Berliner Glas Group and integrated its team. However, the technical glass division was sold to Glas Trösch Group in April 2021.
By 2023, ASML shipped the first of its next-generation EUV systems known as ‘High NA,’ which has a numerical aperture of 0.55 and features a new optics design and quicker stages.
Strongest financial year ever (2024)
The Dutch giant wrapped up 2024 with total net sales of €28.3B and a net income of €7.6B, building it one of its strongest years ever. They also shipped and recognised revenue from High-NA EUV systems, which are the next huge leap in chip-building precision.
Brainport expansion with €2.5B (2024)
In 2024, the company signed a letter of intent with the Municipality of Eindhoven to explore a major new site at the Brainport Industest Campus (BIC). This relocate comes after the Dutch government approved €2.5B in infrastructure upgrades to keep ASML in the Netherlands.
Becoming Mistral AI’s top shareholder (2025)
ASML Holding has officially announced a strategic partnership with a France-based AI leader, Mistral AI, based on a long-term collaboration agreement to explore the apply of AI models across its product portfolio as well as research, development and operations.
As a part of the agreement, ASML is investing €1.3B in Mistral AI’s Series C funding round as lead investor, in order to support its development and reinforce the long-term partnership benefits. This results in ASML holding an approximately 11 per cent share on a fully diluted basis in Mistral AI.
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