It’s not a storm — it’s the climate

It’s not a storm — it’s the climate

29 January 2026

ASML: Monopoly by consent!

Join co-hosts Colin Brown and Martti Wallin as they unpack another Category Leading company. Best in the World. Based in Europe.

Building on the Zeiss episode, we go even deeper into the very, very small world of semiconductors with the company that takes Zeiss’s amazing lenses and does high-volume manufacturing at the nano scale. The pride of the Netherlands, the most valuable company in Europe ASML!

TAKEAWAYS:

  • ASML’s monopoly is based on consent, not coercion.
  • The semiconductor industry is characterised by cycles of boom and bust.
  • ASML has moved above this cycle and become part of the infrastructure layer.
  • The Netherlands’ engineering culture and its spin-off from Philips have shaped ASML’s approach.
  • The company has survived multiple near-death experiences and taken on one of the hardest problems in the world.
  • Customer proximity is key to ASML’s strategy; they sell “tools not machines”.
  • 80% of the components in ASML EUV machines come from a network of European suppliers, including Zeiss (see its Category Leader episode). 20% of the components come from ASML itself, and sometimes it acquires a critical supplier to safeguard that capability. 
  • Scientific research and leading-edge technologies are at the core of ASML’s collaboration with universities and research institutions such as IMEC.
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