ASML

Asml Holding N.v.

A Dutch maker of photolithography machines that "print" the microscopic circuits of computer chips onto silicon wafers, ASML is the world's sole supplier of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems used to build the most advanced microchips found in smartphones, laptops, and cars. It was founded in 1984 as a joint venture between electronics giant Philips and equipment maker ASM International, starting with a few dozen employees in a leaky wooden shed in Eindhoven. The founders nearly named it "ALS" but changed course when they realized that spelled the same as the motor-neuron disease.