Arthur del Prado built a Dutch semiconductor-equipment company around deposition: ASM’s history
Arthur del Prado founded Advanced Semiconductor Materials, now ASM International, in the Netherlands in 1968.
The company developed equipment used to deposit thin films and process semiconductor wafers as integrated circuits became more complex.
What followed was not a straight expansion into every adjacent market. ASM International moved through specific technical and commercial turning points that gradually changed what customers expected from it.
Chemical vapour deposition created the first global franchise
ASM developed deposition systems used to place controlled layers of material on wafers, building operations in Europe, the United States and Asia.
In semiconductor and electronics markets, this kind of capability compounds over time. Manufacturing know-how, yields, supplier relationships and process experience are difficult to recreate quickly, so each generation can strengthen the next.
ASM Pacific Technology extended the group into packaging equipment
ASM established what became ASM Pacific Technology in Hong Kong, creating a major back-end semiconductor-equipment business that was later separately listed.
For ASM International, access to public markets was more than a branding milestone. It increased financial transparency and created another route to fund expansion, acquisitions or long-term product development.
Atomic layer deposition became a leading-edge advantage
ASM invested early in atomic layer deposition, a technique that forms extremely thin and conformal films one layer at a time and became increasingly important in advanced transistor structures.
This was an important turning point because it expanded what ASM International could offer or the markets it could address. The effect becomes clearer when viewed as part of the longer sequence of changes that followed.
The company narrowed around front-end process leadership
ASM gradually reshaped its portfolio while retaining a stake relationship with ASMPT and concentrating the parent company on wafer-fabrication equipment.
The AI era increased the value of capabilities ASM International had already been developing. Compute, data, networking, software or infrastructure that once served narrower workloads became relevant to much larger AI systems.
Atomic-scale films became the company’s strategic moat
As of 18 September 2026, aSM International is now especially associated with deposition technologies such as ALD and epitaxy used at advanced semiconductor nodes. Its long history demonstrates how a specialised process step can become more valuable as chip structures become three-dimensional and harder to manufacture.
Seen chronologically, the company is less a collection of unrelated products than a chain of decisions in which one capability created the conditions for the next.
For TechnologyBlog.co.za, this page is intended to serve as the company-history cornerstone for future ASM International coverage, so product and company-news articles can link back to one factual brand background instead of repeating the full origin story.
Primary sources checked include ASM International corporate history and investor materials. Information reflects public material available on 18 September 2026. Official company identity cross-checked against http://www.asm.com.
