For months now, German software giant SAP has held the title of Europe’s most valuable company.
However, that’s changed now!
Dutch chip equipment maker 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 exchange. With around 388.4M shares outstanding, the company reached a market value of roughly €266B.
In comparison, SAP’s shares in Frankfurt ended the day at €219.50, giving it a valuation of €258B, about €8B less, says 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 industry, manufacturing complex machines that are critical to the production of integrated circuits or chips.
ASML provides chipmakers 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-making giant ASML has become the highest-valued tech company in Europe, let’s explore some of the company’s significant milestones, from its beginnings 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 begin 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 beginning 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 industry?
The move to Veldhoven (1985)
By 1985, ASML had grown to around 100 employees, which was too many for the little shed.
So, they moved 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 began 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 needed 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 made things look 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 helped ASML survive its hardest times and showed just how close they came to failure before they really got started.
Timeline: 1990s
PAS 5500 changes 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-changer, according to the company and is still in use at customer fabs today. Major chipmakers started using it, orders came, and ASML finally began to make profits.
The PAS 5500 became a reliable workhorse, establishing ASML as a serious player and providing the financial support needed to continue innovating.
Going public and standing on its own feet (1995)
By 1995, ASML had grown strong enough to operate independently. The company went public on the Amsterdam stock exchange and also got listed on the Nasdaq in New York, raising the money it needed 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-changer.
It enabled chip manufacturers to work on one wafer while getting 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 used water between the lens and the wafer. This allowed circuits to get even smaller than anyone had imagined using the 193nm light.
These developments helped 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 chipmaker.
This marked the start of a new phase in lithography. While the tool wasn’t yet ready for high-volume production, it gave chipmakers their first taste of the future.
EUV lithography employs shorter wavelength light to create smaller chip features, leading to faster and more powerful chips.
Addressing the bottleneck with the Cymer acquisition and more (2013)
The big 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 began 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 faster 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, making it one of its strongest years ever. They also shipped and recognised revenue from High-NA EUV systems, which are the next big leap in chip-making 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 Industry Campus (BIC). This move 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 use 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.
