ASML Holding N.V. is a Netherland-based photolithography system developer and manufacturer. This firm was established in 1984 and it initially produced computer chips.
Today, it operates as the world’s largest producer of photolithography systems. This firm designs those systems for the semiconductor industry.
ASML is the only company that supplies extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) photolithography machines. It has a workforce of 32,000 top-skilled professionals from 122 countries.
It deals with over 4,600 tier 1 suppliers and its offices are located in several major cities across the world. Continue reading to learn more about ASML Holding’s products and competitors.
What Does ASML Do?
As mentioned earlier, ASML Holding produces photolithography systems and machines. Companies across the globe use those machines to produce computer chips.
The photolithography machine optically images patterns on top of silicon wafers, which are completely wrapped with photoresist (a light-sensitive material). The machines that procedure dozens of times to get the best outcome!
Chip producers pick photoresist and use its patterns to build the electronic circuits for the chip. ASML machines’ optical imaging process is used to produce the most integrated circuits used in electronic devices.
This company is the leading supplier of lithography machines. It has several competitors, but they operate at a much smaller level in comparison to ASML!
How Does ASML Make Money?
This company produces and sells machines, which are used to produce semiconductors. It is the leading developer and supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines.
Those machines use UV light technology to craft patterns of electronic circuit designs on silicon wafers.
Since semiconductors are used in all electronic devices, the ASML company’s products are becoming more essential. It covers over 90% EUV lithography machine market.
This firm has provided top-class machines to craft semiconductor circuits. Therefore, the world’s leading semiconductor-producing firms rely on ASML Holding for their needs associated with photolithography machines.
ASML Revenue
Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography (ASML) became an independent entity in 1988. It has served numerous chipmakers since then and earned huge profits by supplying extremely sophisticated machines for building semiconductors.
Since it is the leading technology provider for semiconductor chips, it generates huge profit by selling innovative semiconductor circuit printing machines.
This firm’s profit has increased by 37.9% in 2021. It grossed $22.019 billion in the fiscal year 2021 and expects over 20% sales growth in FY22.
Top ASML Competitors and Alternatives
ASML’s leading competitors and alternatives include the following companies:
1. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)
Headquarters: Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan
Founder(s): Morris Chang
Year Founded: 1987
Taiwan Semiconductor is a renowned contract manufacturing company. Experts consider it the most valuable semiconductor company in the world. Morris Chang established this firm in 1987.
It became the first dedicated semiconductor foundry in the world. It has successfully maintained the top position in the industry for many years.
Taiwan Semiconductor serves many fables semiconductor companies, including AMD, ARM, Apple, Broadcom, MediaTek, Marell, and Nvidia. It also helps companies that design and produce programmable logic devices companies.
TSMC has served all clients in the industry for their semiconductor needs and established itself as the most reliable solution provider. This company has improved its capacity significantly. It can produce about 13 million 300 mm-equivalent wafers annually.
It is the world’s leading foundry to develop 5-nanometre and 7-nanometre production capabilities. It commercialized extreme ultraviolet lithography technology and used it in high volume.
This company is making a huge profit by delivering cutting-edge solutions for semiconductor production.
It has earned $57.22 billion in the fiscal year 2021 and thus it has become the leading ASML competitor in the semiconductor industry.
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2. Lam Research
Headquarters: Fremont, California, United States
Founder(s): Dr. David K. Lam
Year Founded: 1980
Lam Research is the leading wafer fabrication equipment developer and supplier in the USA. This company serves the semiconductor industry and it has emerged as ASML’s biggest competitor in the semiconductor industry.
This company provides products that semiconductor-producing companies use in front-end wafer processing. This process is important to build transistors, capacitors, and other active components used in semiconductors.
Lam Research also designs and produces equipment for back-end wafer-level packaging. Dr. David K. Lam had established this company in 1980.
It became the 2nd largest manufacturer in the Bay region in Silicon Valley after the Tesla company. Many companies in the semiconductor industry rely on Lam Research for their demands. It supplies products essential for semiconductor manufacturing.
Those products include plasma etch, thin film deposition, wafer cleaning processes, and photoresist strips. Lam Research’s products make it much easier to produce reliable interconnects, transistors, capacitors, packaging structures, and advanced memory solutions.
This company has employed over 14,100 professionals and its revenue has increased by 45.71% in 2021. This company has grossed $14.63 billion in Fiscal Year 2021!
3. Applied Materials
Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, United States
Founder(s): Michael A. McNeilly
Year Founded: 1967
Applied Materials is one of the oldest companies in the world focused on developing high-quality semiconductors. It was established in 1967 by Michael A. McNeilly and other co-founders. It was earning good profit and therefore it went public in just five years.
Applied Materials started working on semiconductor manufacturing equipment in 1974. It emerged as a reliable supplier of machines, systems, software, and services required to produce integrated circuit chips.
Today, this company offers machines and tools to produce semiconductors used in smartphones, computers, televisions, solar panels, and other electronic devices.
This firm also offers equipment to create packaging, flexible electronics, and other items. This company has earned $23.6 billion in 2021.
Its revenue is increasing because it is also one of the leading electronics chip manufacturers in the USA. It has acquired 11 chipmakers in the country to expand its service area and generate more profit.
ASML and Lam Research only provide technology and machines to produce semiconductor chips. Therefore, both companies are more popular than Applied Materials in their primary field.
4. Analog Devices
Headquarters: Norwood, Massachusetts, United States
Founder(s): Ray Stata and Matthew Lorber
Year Founded: 1965
It is a US-based semiconductor company that specializes in signal processing, data conversion, and power management technology. This firm develops and produces analog, digital signal processing, and mixed-signal processing integrated circuits for electronic devices.
Analog has mastered technologies used to convert, condition, and process light, temperature, sound, pressure, and motion into electrical signals.
It currently serves over 100,000 customers in communications, instrumentation, computer, military, automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics industries.
MIT graduates Matthew Lorber and Ray Stata founded Analog Devices in 1965. The Model 101 op amp was this firm’s first product.
It was a hockey-puck-sized module designed for test and measurement equipment. It started publishing a technical magazine and later introduced many products used in electronic devices.
Today, this company operates as the leading analog chip market in the world. Its market value has gone above $61 billion and it competes with the world’s largest semiconductor companies.
This company has employed over 10,000 top-skilled engineers to develop cutting-edge solutions for the growing semiconductor needs. Analog Devices has made $7.32 billion in 2021 alone.
5. KLA Corporation
Headquarters: Milpitas, California, United States
Founder(s): N/A
Year Founded: 1997
KLA is a trusted supplier of yield management and process control systems for the semiconductor industry. This California-based company also serves nanoelectronics industries creating innovative products for consumers.
KLA’s products and services are designed for all phases of the reticle, wafer, packaging, and integrated circuit production.
It provides support for research, quick development, volume manufacturing, and other needs of a semiconductor developing company.
KLA was established in 1997 when KLA Instruments and Tencor Instruments merged. It was called KLA-Tencor Corporation at that time and it was providing diagnostics equipment and chip processing services to customers.
Today, this company develops a variety of cutting-edge inspection tools, computational analytics tools, metrology systems, and equipment to improve manufacturing yields for specialty semiconductors and standard chips.
KLA has over 11,300 employees and it has earned $6.918 billion in 2021. Thus, it becomes a major player in the semiconductor industry.
6. Nikon Corporation
Headquarters: Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Founder(s): N/A
Year Founded: 1917
Nikon is a famous Japanese company. It builds top-quality optics and imaging products. Nikon became a popular brand because of its affordable cameras, camera lenses, microscopes, binoculars, ophthalmic lenses, rifle scopes, and measurement instruments.
Many consumers do not know that Nikon is the world’s 2nd largest manufacturer of steppers. That device is quite essential to produce an integrated circuit and is also used in photolithography steps of fabricating semiconductors.
Nikon is a reliable chip equipment maker because it has always delivered cutting-edge products to speed up the semiconductor manufacturing process.
Its deep ultraviolet light machines are widely used to produce chips. Experts believe that Nikon’s Deep Ultraviolet Light machines can replace ASML’s EUV lithography system.
While Nikon is competing with ASML in the DUV machine market, ASML has a monopoly in EUV. Therefore, Nikon does not affect ASML’s business too much!
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7. Canon
Headquarters: Ōta, Tokyo, Japan
Founder(s): Goro Yoshida, Saburo Uchida, Takeo Maeda
Year Founded: 1937
Canon is another Japanese company that has emerged as a significant player in the semiconductor industry. This firm specializes in imaging, optical, and industrial products.
It has builds powerful cameras, lenses, scanners, printers, medical machines, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Canon is among the top 10 companies that produce display and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Canon Tokki is a major player in the material disposition equipment market.
Customers approach this brand whenever they need display photolithography equipment. Canon is among the top 3 producers of semiconductor lithography machines.
Therefore, this brand might be a surprise entry for many investors. It was ruling the semiconductor lithography market along with Nikon.
ASML became the leading company in this field in 2017, but Canon is still a major player in the semiconductor industry!
This company employs over 200,000 professionals and it has earned over $30.55 billion in 2021. Information regarding Canon’s revenue through its semiconductor equipment business is not available!
8. Intel Corporation
Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, United States
Founder(s): Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce
Year Founded: 1968
Intel is the world’s most popular semiconductor chip manufacturing company. This American firm has developed and produced the most efficient processors for personal computers.
This company serves the leading computer system manufacturing companies, including HP, Acer, Dell, and Lenovo.
It also produces motherboard chipsets, integrated circuits, network interface controllers, graphics chips, flash memory chips, and other computing and communications devices.
Intel partnered with ASML to develop cutting-edge EUV machines. It was the first American brand to install an EUV lithography system in Europe. The machine was created by ASML and therefore it took the credit for that venture.
Intel uses the EUV lithography system to develop top-performing chips at its Ireland-based Fab 34 facility. Intel and ASML serve different industries, but both are competitors in the semiconductor industry.
Both companies are trying to develop and introduce a more advanced semiconductor lithography technology to become the market leader in this field.
Over 121,100 professionals are working for Intel Corporation. This company has established its offices and chip manufacturing units across the globe.
It has earned $79.02 billion in 2021 by supplying cutting-edge chipsets for computers and other semiconductor chip-powered machines.
9. Tokyo Electron (TEL)
Headquarters: Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Founder(s): Tokuo Kubo, Toshio Kodaka, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Inc.
Year Founded: 1963
Tokyo Electron is a Japanese company that supplies equipment to fabricate integrated circuits, photovoltaic cells, and flat panel displays. This company’s subsidiary “Tokyo Electron Device” specializes in building electronic components, semiconductor devices, and networking products.
It was the largest producer of integrated circuit and FPD production equipment in 2011! Tokyo Electron was going to merge with Applied Materials and the announcement was made in 2013 regarding that merger.
Both companies were merging to establish a new firm, known as “Eteris”, but that merger was cancelled in 2015. Eteris could have become the largest semiconductor processing equipment supplier in the world!
Tokyo Electron currently serves as one of the leading semiconductor production equipment suppliers in the world. It is one of the top grossing companies in this field with an annual income of $16.76 billion in 2021!
10. ASM International
Headquarters: Almere, Netherlands
Founder(s): Arthur del Prado
Year Founded: 1964
ASM International is another Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturing company. It designs, produces, sells, and maintains equipment used to process semiconductor wafer processing.
Clients use ASM’s products in front-end wafer processing during the semiconductor fabrication process. Chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, diffusion, and epitaxy are ASM’s popular technologies.
This company has mastered several wafer processing technologies, such as lithography, ion implementation, deposition, atomic layer deposition, and single-wafer epitaxy.
Therefore, many semiconductor-producing companies are ASM’s clients. ASML and ASM International are a competitor in the semiconductor industry because both provide similar equipment.
ASM has earned 1.730 billion Euros in 2021 and it is consistently increasing annual revenue to emerge as a major alternative to ASML!
