ASML emerges from a Philips spinoff (1984)
Philips spun off its lithography arm into ASM Lithography, a Dutch joint venture with ASMI based in Veldhoven. The company struggled for years against Japanese rivals Nikon and Canon. Dutch state support and EU research funding helped it survive the lean period.
By the early 2000s ASML matched its Japanese competitors on technology and price.
ASML is now the sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, the chokepoint of advanced chip manufacturing. The US, China, and Japan all depend on its tools.
A coordinated European push at a narrow technology layer can produce global dominance, even when the broader industry is American. Quantum software is the kind of narrow layer European policymakers are now trying to own.
