The leaky shed that became essential to modern chips: ASML’s unlikely road to EUV
Few technology companies have an origin story as mismatched with their eventual importance as ASML.
The business began in 1984 as ASM Lithography, a joint venture between Philips and ASM International. Its early team worked from what ASML itself describes as a leaky shed near Philips facilities in Eindhoven.
Four decades later, the Dutch company builds some of the most complex machines used anywhere in manufacturing. Its extreme-ultraviolet lithography systems are critical to producing many leading-edge semiconductors.
The PAS 2000 had to prove the joint venture deserved to exist
ASML was created to commercialise wafer-stepper technology that had been developed at Philips.
The company launched its first system, the PAS 2000, in 1984. Early lithography markets were already competitive, and ASML did not begin with the dominant position it later achieved.
By 1985, the company had around 100 employees and moved into a purpose-built facility in Veldhoven.
Independence forced ASML to compete on technology
ASML gradually became more independent from its parents and listed publicly in the 1990s.
The company concentrated on lithography: projecting increasingly small circuit patterns onto silicon wafers through repeated optical exposure.
As chip features shrank, the physics became progressively harder. Every generation demanded better optics, positioning, light sources and computational correction.
TWINSCAN changed the architecture of the machine
ASML’s TWINSCAN platform used two wafer stages so one wafer could be measured while another was being exposed.
That increased productivity and helped establish a platform that would support later deep-ultraviolet and extreme-ultraviolet systems.
Acquisitions filled technical gaps ASML could not solve alone
ASML expanded through targeted acquisitions rather than trying to internalise every technology from scratch.
Silicon Valley Group added lithography capability in 2001. Brion brought computational lithography in 2007. HMI later strengthened electron-beam inspection.
The most consequential acquisition was Cymer in 2013.
EUV required a new kind of light source
Extreme-ultraviolet lithography uses light with a wavelength of about 13.5 nanometres, far shorter than conventional deep-ultraviolet systems.
Generating that light reliably at production power was a major obstacle. ASML acquired Cymer, a specialist in lithography light sources, to accelerate the programme.
The company says it invested more than €6 billion in EUV research and development over 17 years.
The first production EUV machines arrived before the technology was truly ready
ASML shipped a pre-production NXE:3100 in 2010 and the first NXE:3300 production system in 2013.
Commercial adoption was still difficult. Light-source power, uptime, masks, resists and other parts of the ecosystem had to mature before EUV could support high-volume manufacturing.
By the late 2010s, major chipmakers were adopting EUV for leading-edge production.
High-NA is the next attempt to keep shrinking features
ASML then increased the numerical aperture of EUV systems from 0.33 to 0.55 through its EXE High-NA platform.
The first High-NA system was delivered in December 2023. The technology is intended to print smaller features with fewer patterning steps as chipmakers move beyond the limits of conventional EUV.
High-NA systems are extraordinarily large, expensive and technically complex, but their importance comes from the economics of advanced chipmaking rather than spectacle.
Carl Zeiss remains one of the critical partners
ASML does not build every element of its machines alone.
Its long relationship with Carl Zeiss SMT provides the ultra-precise optical systems required for lithography. ASML acquired a minority interest in Carl Zeiss SMT in 2017 to align development roadmaps, including High-NA.
This supplier network is a reminder that ASML’s position rests on a specialised European technology ecosystem as well as its own engineering.
Why one equipment company matters to so many chip brands
ASML does not design the processors found in phones or AI servers. It sells the machines that chip manufacturers use to print the circuitry.
That places the company upstream from brands such as CPU, GPU and smartphone-chip designers.
As of 18 September 2026, ASML’s influence comes from the difficulty of reproducing decades of lithography expertise, supplier relationships and installed manufacturing infrastructure.
A shed became a bottleneck for the semiconductor frontier
ASML’s history is a rare example of extreme specialisation creating enormous strategic importance.
The PAS 2000 established the business. TWINSCAN improved productivity. Cymer accelerated the EUV light source, and High-NA now represents the next lithography transition.
For TechnologyBlog.co.za, this history article becomes the backlink anchor for future ASML, EUV, High-NA and semiconductor-manufacturing coverage.
Sources reviewed include ASML’s official history, founding-story feature, EUV technology pages and acquisition records. Facts are current to 18 September 2026.
