ASML boasts that it is “probably a part of the electronic device you are using right now”, as its technology helps to build the brains that power our gadgets: microchips.
The Dutch semiconductor business is behind “lithography technology”, putting the circuit patterns on chips which define what they are used for, as well as selling software and services.
The machines it makes use light to project images on to silicon wafers, creating the precise, miniature electronic circuits needed to do evermore sophisticated things with less power.
Customers for its highly specialised equipment are the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturers and it is a key player in the global microchip supply chain.
As a result it is vulnerable to the cycles inherent in the sector, which has
