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Martin Vandenbrink

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first: 2025-08-22
most recent: 2025-08-22
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“Enable technological advancement for the common good. And they see making a profit as just a side effect and not the number one goal. So while ASML has a massive lead in the lithography machines today, it remains to be seen whether others will ever be able to catch up. So for example, China may one day give ASML a run for the money. But for now, ASML is Europe's killer app, a tool that the whole world needs. That's all we have for today's episode. This was a really fun one to put together, so I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into one of the most important companies in the world. So with that, thank you for tuning in to today's episode, and I hope to see you again next week.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“He's a Frenchman who has lived and worked in the Netherlands for 15 years now with only one Dutch board member. It's going to be interesting to see how international ASML becomes over time in the midst of their continued expansion globally. As the world woke up to the importance of chips and how dependent it was on ASML, ASML understood their huge responsibility they had as a quasi-monopoly. They gave themselves the role of treating large and small chip manufacturers equally and not overcharging them, which is really saying something given that the EUV lithography machine can run chipmakers 300 to $400 million or so. So Van and Brink, he believed that abusing their monopoly power would actually be their downfall, which is why the decision to restrict sales to Chinese customers was so out of character for them. The Dutch chip machines are intended to serve a global market.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Vandenbrink was relentless on the innovation front, and Win Inc. was really the people person that helped keep a hand and brink in check and managing these relationships with the chip manufacturers. Vandenbrink, he retired as president and CTO in April of 2024, but remains active as an advisor to the board. Winning retired as well, wrapping up his tenure as CEO in the same month, alongside Vandenbrink and Winnink, a large group of engineers from the early days are also nearing the end of their tenure at ASML in their mid to late 60s, if I had to guess. So right now, ASML is sort of at this critical transition point where many key people are stepping away. And it's really on them to have trained the next generation as you can't learn about this stuff in a manual. Much of it's learned through word of mouth, experience, and just sheer hard work and time spent with the firm. Their new CEO, Christoph,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Ensuring maximum uptime. In the American competitors failed to accommodate the chip manufacturers in Asia who were pushing for faster production technology, and this played right into ASML's hands, who was looking to innovate and make that next step forward in the technology available. ASML is the culmination of decades of experimentation and industrialization. And it's built on the legacy of the Philips engineers all the way back in the 1970s. And by relentlessly refining their designs, ASML engineers have ensured their lithography machines kept pace with Moore's law, constantly pushing the boundaries of performance without reaching a breaking point. It's like a rubber band stretched to its limit, but the rubber band just never is snapping. It hasn't snapped. Their success has hinged on the dual leadership of Martin Vandenbrink and Peter.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Today, they still continue to innovate and push the limits on what others believe is possible. ASML is continuing to bet on increasing the number of transistors per square millimeter, which makes their technology more and more difficult to replicate. The market for lithography machines continues to rapidly grow as orders for new machines continue to roll in. In the old legacy machines are also being upgraded by chip manufacturers. And ASML is not about to let this market slip through their fingers. Turning to the epilogue here, very end of the book, part of the secret to ASML's success was their decision to focus on a single product from day one. It allowed the Dutch to just have a merciless pace that their Japanese competitors just could not keep up with. And they had an uncanny ability in working with the chip manufacturers to identify and eliminate issues with the machines.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Today we've seen Moore's Law continue as the number of transistors has continued to double about every two years, but ASML's director of research believes that continued progress is limited by economics and not physics. As hygiene puts it here, the chip industry is fast approaching the point where the investments required to scale further down become too large to recoup. That's the real limit. And if chip manufacturers can no longer add value to hyperna machines, ASML stands to gain nothing by producing them. In layman's terms, it's getting too expensive." End quote. Nonetheless, Vandombrink is pushing for more innovation and encouraging the chip manufacturers to place orders for upgraded machines that don't even exist yet. And what's impressive about ASML is how they've largely avoided this arrogance and complacency that you tend to see in successful companies or successful people. Despite their dominant position,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Also, had me think about one of my top holdings in my portfolio, which is constellation software. Constellation faces the issue of losing top talent. You know, sometimes highly talented people will go off and start their own firm doing exactly what Constellation does. One of the members of our mastermind community actually started his own serial acquirer after working at Constellation for a few years. And, you know, this just is not an issue for ASML because no one or no group of employees is ever going to be able to go out and start their own lithography business, at least to the extent that ASML has. Over the past 40 years, the lines printed on ASML's machines shrunk from a micron to a few nanometers. And that's about a thousand times smaller. And that's a journey that went from the invisible to almost the immeasurable. And Vandenbrink wants to continue to push the limits, pushing for what ASML calls hyper in.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Done that long ago. And not one single person knows everything there is to know about how these machines actually work. So not even Martin Vandenbrae, and he has over 40 years experience in this industry. Most engineers work on one small component and know everything there is to know about that small piece of the puzzle. As Fritz Van How philosophically describes it, the people who know how it should be done don't know why it should be done and the people who know why it should be done don't know how it should be done. So this dynamic, of course, makes ASML interesting from an investment perspective because it sets the scene for investment returns that are potentially attractive going forward. A number of members of our mastermind community are interested in ASML or have bought shares. And I actually first learned about this incredible business by tuning into a presentation that was done for our community. Thinking about this dynamic”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Needs workers for. Given that ASML is so large and their growing exponentially and they're based in a relatively less populated area of the world, it's easy to see why finding labor will continue to be a key issue for them just to fill that exponentially growing demand for lithography machines. One thing they're doing to help address these growing pains is to launch satellite offices and these foreign branches in places like Korea and Taiwan. And perhaps down the line, they'll also decide to produce lithography machines outside the Netherlands, but so far they haven't taken that step yet. One thing that's been in the back of my mind as I went through the book is just how strong ASML's mode is. It's estimated that ASML has 90% market share in the lithography market. And the ability to replicate their business is just next to impossible. If it were simply an issue of just throwing money at it, then I'm sure the US or some other country would have”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's pretty small considering that ASML has 44,000 employees globally. And I believe around half of them work at the headquarters or around the headquarters. So they face a challenge of finding and attracting the right talent to come work with them. And the cramped labor market creates friction between ASML and other businesses in the area. Salaries are about 20% higher at ASML than other technology firms, and it's nearly impossible for many to compete with their generous profit sharing and bonus policies. So ASML does a lot of recruiting outside the Netherlands, particularly at foreign universities. They also have the goal of investing at least 100 million euros per year in community projects that also serve their interests. One project they invested in was founding the junior academy, which educates elementary students on technology and manufacturing, which the region certainly”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Have some drawbacks though. Even at its size, they lack the types of efficiencies and standard operating procedures that you'd find at larger organizations. This can, of course, create some redundancies in their typical workflows, which can lead to lower margins from a financial standpoint. In many of their engineers can naturally lack people skills, which oftentimes can make them poor managers once they move up their ranks. Winning tries to lead by example and trying to get these engineers out of their shells a little bit. Each morning at 730 he would have breakfast on the ASML campus and he would invite anyone to come up and speak with them. The book also gets into some interesting details that aren't so related to the lithography business. For example, ASML's headquartered in Veldhoven, which is just outside of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Eindhoven has a population of around 250,000 people.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tesla's history, they were simply fighting to survive and make the shipments that weak. But everything they did was still in line with where they wanted to be 10 years down the line. Vandenbrink is often compared to Apple's founder, Steve Jobs, as they share the same combination of temperament and strategic insight. Along with an eye for detail and clever marketing. And just like Steve Jobs, he just does not give his customers exactly what they ask for. He tells them what they need. And because of that, they just sort of trust him. Since Martin has the most extensive knowledge of the technology, replacing him will require likely a group of people because he oversees R&D, intellectual property, engages with discussions with the chip manufacturers. And in his spare moments, he's coming up with new inventions. ASML's culture does”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“To grow alongside them and adapt to the ruthless ups and downs of the semiconductor industry. Despite the spectacular growth that ASML has had over the years, based on Hijing's observations, they seem to have done a good job of keeping that startup feel thanks to Martin Vandenbrink. He's well known in the company for his confrontational approach to business and his tendency to question everything. Because of their unique culture, current employees tend to rise to key managerial positions. One of my favorite lines here from hijink is ASML is a sprinter forced to run a marathon. I think this quote really shows how ASML just has to operate. They're forced to continue to innovate, launch new things before they're perfect, and fix them on the fly. But in the meantime, they're also playing this very long-term game. It reminds me a bit about how Tesla operates. At many points in”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's Asian competitors insisted And oftentimes for the highly complex parts they're buying, they only have one supplier, so a high degree of trust is essential. As a result, the suppliers have effectively become co-developers of the machines. Some within ASML believe that they should not tie the fate of their success to a handful of companies, and that they should have backup suppliers for all of their most sensitive parts. But throughout the chip industry, the most reliable relationships are built with one trusted partner. Fritz Van Hau has an analogy with regards to this. Think how your spouse might react if you were to have an equally deep relationship with somebody else. As a result, the semiconductor industry is made up of deep but fragile connections, like an incredibly valuable brittle chain. So not only does ASML need to battle growing their production of lithography machines, they rely on many suppliers having the capacity”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Dollar industry by 2030. While most businesses struggle to grow or even just sustain their current business, companies like TSMC and ASML are in the privileged position that they have so much demand for their products and services, they're scrambling to figure out just how to keep up. Just as growing a business is difficult, scaling a business and growing by 15 to 20% year after year is also a big challenge. In 2021, ASML was only able to deliver two-thirds of the machines that were ordered for the year. Despite hundreds of new colleagues joining every month, the employee workloads continue to increase. To help grapple with these growing pains, ASML insists on only producing lithography machines and not producing the parts used for those machines. This approach gave ASML the flexibility it needed in its early days.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“As they attended to rely on foreigners for chips and other industries, but COVID and the Russian invasion of Ukraine served as a wake-up call. If China ever decided to block exports from Taiwan, they would be without needed chips within just two weeks. The final section of the book is titled Growing Paints. To no surprise, ASML isn't just growing, they're exploding. At the headquarters, they have an American-style campus which includes a lively restaurant, an auditorium with a rooftop garden, a private supermarket, a bright blue running track, and a recharge rooms to hang out, read, or game. In 2023, ASML had 42,000 employees and was the 50th most valuable company in the world. Their employee count doubled in the past six years, and it's expected to double again over the next six years. Analysts predict that the global chip market is going to be a trillion”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“C increased its investment in Arizona from $12 billion to $40 billion and included newer production technology. The EU saw a similar need to develop their own chip industry as well, as they accounted for just 8% of global chip reduction. ASML was called upon to develop a plan for the EU, and there, of course, in a highly advantageous position, as they essentially had a monopoly on the lithography technology. ASML anticipated that demand for chips would double in the coming decade, given the chips needed for data centers and the explosion of AI, self-driving cars, and smart electricity networks. So the EU would announce their own Chips Act, which would provide $43 billion of stimulus, and this led Intel to invest another 33 billion euros into European expansion projects. This was a U-turn in policy for the EU,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“$52 billion in funding for various programs, including R&D, manufacturing incentives, and workforce development. As I mentioned, chip manufacturing has been dominated by Asia in recent years, so the hope of the Chips Act was to turn the tide and have more production happen on American soil. Intel saw an opportunity and seized it as they invested $20 billion for expansion in Arizona, claiming $8 billion in subsidies. The US also managed to get a substantial investment from TSMC, although TSMC preferred to keep the production of their most advanced chips in their own country. They did offer to increase the chip production in the US in exchange for additional guarantees of military support from the US, which they agreed to. So in September 2022, the US approved the additional military support of $1.1 billion in TSM.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“China's hand to invest significantly into this area so SME can catch up to some extent, which would eventually reduce their reliance on ASML and Nikon. Additionally, China has access to two types of rare earth metals that the chip industry relied on the Chinese for. And in July of 2023, they imposed restrictions on exports of these metals. This was a jab from the Chinese to show what could happen if they were further restricted in global trade. And as a result of the increased geopolitical tensions, companies like Apple and Samsung would start to move some of their production outside of China to help diversify their risk exposure. Hygiene then as a chapter here titled It's Raining Billions, which gets into the US government's support to help fuel its own chip industry. In 2022, the US issued the Chips Act, which provided”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Equipment or SME for short. SME makes it no secret that it tries to copy the art of lithography directly from ASML. According to Hijink here, SME has received financial assistance from the government, but they still remain 15 years behind compared to what ASML has to offer. This goes to show that you can't simply order a lithography machine from ASML and just try to copy it. It requires deep technical knowledge and experience to even know where to begin. Yet alone develop cutting edge industry leading technology. Since SME is so far behind in lithography, Chinese chip manufacturers tend to rely on ASML and Nikon for this part of the manufacturing process. However, as the US puts more restrictions in place to limit the imports of lithography machines, this may force”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The 5G phone with 7 nanometer technology from SMIC, which was proof that China was lagging behind, but it was still not at a standstill. Due to the US keeping China from getting EUV machines and receiving a limited number of other machines, China would push to try and develop their own alternatives, which from an outsider's perspective they seem to be successful with doing as wafers continue to roll out of their production lines. Part of the reason they were able to do this is because they were able to hire former employees of US companies who brought their knowledge back home. AMEC, which was a machine manufacturer in Shanghai, China, even got to the point of supplying chip machines to TSMC, but in the lithography market, ASML was still the go-to player. China does have one competing manufacturer of lithography machines, which is Shanghai Micro Electric.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Without maintenance, repairs, and spare parts, the most advanced versions would quickly grind to a hole. In ASML had obligations to prevent this from happening to their customers, and they wanted to make good on their word. China even sided with ASML amidst the drama as top executives from Chinese chip manufacturers emphasized to ASML just how much their production lines relied on them. And they claim that ASML was just as much a victim through all this as China was. I'm not sure this was entirely the case because businesses like TSMC are quite dynamic. Instead of making chips in China, for example, they can decide to try and make them elsewhere. Of course, this takes years to do, it takes some time, it's at least an option for them. ASML expected that new regulations would actually have no impact on their turnover. In 2023, Huawei would go on to launch a”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Chips to try and separate themselves from the Chinese competition. But China's technological advance marched on as SMIC, a foundry based in China, was capable of producing seven nanometer chips using the standard scanners from the Netherlands, which was just one or two steps behind those being produced at TSMC with the four and five nanometer technology. So in October of 2022, the US announced that exporters were no longer allowed to supply tools that would enable Chinese chipmakers to produce processors finer than 14 nanometers. Panic would sweep through the chip industry, and the stock prices of chip companies like NVIDIA, AMD, and ASML would fall. ASML certainly had reason to worry. They had over 800 lithography machines operating in chip value.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But just as important, they fear the emergence of China becoming the global powerhouse in artificial intelligence. Any excuse to slow China's development of AI could help give the US a leg up in the AI race. As much as ASML would prefer to avoid the geopolitical drama, it's naive to think that they could operate outside of the spotlight forever when their machines print the building blocks of the modern world. Meanwhile, the Dutch government started to change their tone towards China, tending to decide more with the US's point of view. In January 2020, the US asked the Netherlands to block UV exports to China and the Netherlands agreed to deny ASML the license to sell them to China. Although this might seem like bad news to ASML on the surface, they were still allowed to sell the older generation machines and other players would put their foot on the gas, producing”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In the lithography machines would fall under the Wassener Agreement, which was an agreement put in place by dozens of countries in the 1990s that regulated the export of equipment that could be used for military purposes. This agreement gave the U.S. influence on where lithography machines could be sent despite ASML being headquartered in the Netherlands. The book gets into an interesting debate of whether the chip industry should be highly regulated or not. ASML would tell you that the chip industry is globally dependent and has complex and vulnerable supply chains and technology. It's an industry that revolves around mutual trust, long-term agreements, and free market dynamics. In their supplying machines that power cell phones, usually not military use. But from the US's standpoint, they can make the argument that the chips are used for military use, which may or may not be true.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“in a new lithography machine. If South Korean customers are visiting, you'll see a South Korean flag sitting on the reception desk next to the Dutch flag. When Chinese companies visit, a Chinese flag will be waving to welcome them in. With the global rise of China, it's becoming increasingly important to ASML in terms of driving revenue. In fact, in 2024, China accounted for over one-third of ASML sales, which primarily came from selling their older generation machines. ASML tended to avoid politics, but they did have one condition in selling its most advanced machine to China. Under no circumstances should the valuable technology be copied. ASML made it clear that if they see a flagger infringement of their intellectual property, they would be done doing business. ASML, of course, only does business where it's legally allowed to”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In May of 2020, after the COVID pandemic in the light of chip shortages globally, the US prohibited TSMC from producing advanced chips for Huawei, one of China's leaders in technology. This was enforceable due to Taiwanese use of American tools in their factories, such as design software for chips and chip machines. With TSMC instantly losing one of their biggest customers, this sent shockwaves to ASML as TSMC immediately scaled back their orders for chip machines. This only exacerbated the chip shortage issue though, as other Chinese companies rushed to buy whatever the chips they could, even ordering the less advanced chips, which led to TSMC's order books overflowing. ASML makes no secret of doing business with the whole world as soon as you walk into the headquarters in Veldhoven, you can see who's interested”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But the problem is that American chip companies benefit from Chinese sales. So any limitations they pose on China will likely turn to backfire on them.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“See on foreigners. China's goal is to be 70 self sufficient in products from 10 strategic sectors by 2025, including the chip industry. So Chinese chip factories receive capital through national and local investment funds to help stimulate innovation. But within Chinese borders, open criticism of the administration is prohibited, protests are suppressed, their online behavior is analyzed and censored, and the government fails to protect foreign companies against corruption and the theft of their technology. Although America's political parties may be deeply divided, they do agree that China's technological advance is a threat to the free world. And soon, this archival may be more powerful than America in the field of AI and cyber espionage. So the U.S. is interested in trying to limit the”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You're not adding any extra value. And you're not doing anything that somebody else can't already do. In part four of the book, it's titled In the Spotlight, Hygiene Starts to Get Into the Geopolitical Tensions in Global Technological Conflicts between the US and China. Out of the 5.5 billion internet users globally, about two-thirds of them reside in Asia. In 20% of them are in China. Because of this, hygiene claims the technological power is shifting from the West to the east. China is the largest manufacturing hub for electronics globally, which makes it the world's biggest consumer of chips. But with the local chip industry still in its infancy, the country needs to import almost all of its advanced processors, the majority of which come from the US. As a result, China has long had aspirations to reduce their dependence”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tool to keep producing chips at work. This led ASML to make a handful of acquisitions over the years. One acquisition they made was purchasing Bryon in 2006 for $270 million. Bryon is a company headquartered in Silicon Valley that in layman's terms develop software that helps correct distortions in the lithography process. Bryan also helped ASML get more exposure to Silicon Valley and hunt for talented software specialists in the United States. Silicon Valley also serves as a hub for AI development. ASML had used AI to understand the interplay and their complex machines, which introduces a mind-bloggling amount of data and variables at play. Martin Vandenbrink recognizes the potential benefits of machine learning and AI, but he encourages his people to not rely solely on it. He claims that if you rely solely on AI,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Assisting the chip manufacturer to ensure that things are running smoothly. These investments for TSMC have certainly paid off as revenues have more than tripled since 2019. In earnings per share has increased by more than four times. They also command a 60% market share in the entire foundry market, making it four times larger than its closest competitor, Samsung. With the rise of TSMC, ASML is highly reliant on them as a customer as they account for around 40% of ASML's revenue. One would think that a lithography machine with a price tag of hundreds of millions of euros would be able to make perfect copies of chip structures. But the world just isn't so kind. Vandenbrink knew that when he charted out ASML's long-term strategy in the late 90s, that as chips become smaller, so does the room for error. So at a certain point, software would be a necessary”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“ASML. Chips at TSMC produced would power Sony's PlayStation, Apple's iPhone, and the graphic chips for NVIDIA. In 2022, TSMC supplied more than half of the world's chips in 90% of the most advanced processors. And although TSMC was thrilled to receive the EUV machines, they were not afraid to speak up when things went wrong, which would really push ASML to continue to innovate year after year. Each mistake would come at a cost in terms of the yield the machines produced in TSMC absolutely wanted to maximize that yield the best they could. TSMC orders as many machines as they can from ASML because they know that ASML had limited production capacity. And for every machine that was sent to Taiwan, it was one less machine that a competitor could pick up. And ASML has over 4,000 employees in Taiwan.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“CEO role at ASML would continuously be put in a really difficult position because the person at the helm was still at the whims of Martin. So in 2013, ASML appointed two president directors, Peter Winink became the president and CEO in Martin Vandenbrink became president and technical director. As always, the CEO would steer the ship and Martin would set the course. And Winink knew this. He had stated, with Martin, you have the golden ticket in the palm of your hand. Are you really going to mess with that? It wouldn't be until February 2018 that the EUV machines would become fully operational and they sign with TSMC and Samsung to get them up and running. Intel was being passed by their competitors in Asia on every front and wouldn't start using EUV technology until 2023. The rise of TSMC would be a blessing for”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Around 2013, ASML was burning around 10 million euros per week, still trying to crack the code on EUV. Reflecting on the years of endless development, Vandenbrink stated, It's like your time in the military. When you're in the thick of it, it's terrible. But in retrospect, it's the best time of your life. Hijink wrote further on Martin, ASML clearly has a leader. Martin Vandenbrink, CEO might not be on his business card, but he's without a doubt the rock that company relies on. He's the one setting the technical agenda, helping write patents, and determining the strategic acquisitions. It is his name that commands respect throughout the entire chip industry. And if one of his plans gets blocked in the boardroom, he'll dig in and stick to it until he gets his way. When it comes down to it, it is clear who has his hand on the wheel, end quote.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“An even bigger lead on their Japanese competition. Shortly after By 2012, ASML was still working on perfecting the EUV technology in one of their suppliers named Simer had essentially told them that this was an issue that they just couldn't crack. They would not be able to figure out this EUV technology. This left Vandenbrink furious. So instead of simply telling what the supplier should do, he proposed buying them. Three companies would come together to help fund EUV research, ASML, who of course makes the lithography machines, Samsung, who's the largest manufacturer of memory chips, and TFMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In the partnership, ASML would sell nearly 4 billion euros worth of shares, and they would acquire Simer for 1.9 billion dollars. With Samsung and TSMC now working directly with ASML, this would knock Intel off their feet and an end to America's leadership in chip manufacturing. Meanwhile,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“They had 1.3 billion euros in reserves, and they were receiving 15 million euros from the government. And also paying out tens of millions of euros in dividends to investors. Some politicians viewed this as unnecessary support, as ASML had the money to compensate their employees and continue to pay a dividend. ASML pushed back by arguing that paying dividends helped prevent stable shareholders from leaving. This did not keep the stock from falling over 50% in one year. ASML managed to weather through the crisis just fine and fend off activists from buying up the company. And as the lithography market rebounded, they set their sights on expanding their market share for lithography machines for processors and memory chips from 50% to 80%. Since they continue to invest in R&D throughout the crisis, it served as an opportunity to gain”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Martin Vandenbrink sold the first UUV machine to Samsung with delivery for 2010 so the clock had officially started for them to really figure out the whole concept. As a side note, it would not be until 2018 that Samsung would get a fully capable UUV machine ready for their facilities. Vann and Brink saw they were really consuming more and more capital, which became an issue given that they would be entering the great financial crisis in 2008. The financial world coming to a grinding halt meant that the market for lithography machines would also come to a standstill. Never before had ASML seen such a sharp and sudden drop-off in demand. ASML received support from the government to keep many of their factory workers employed, even though machines did not necessarily need to be made at the time. But they also received some political pushback because they were in good financial standing.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In their tip production, they would have a virtual monopoly in the industry. However, this would prove to be no easy task. As hygiene writes, EUV light was and still is extremely difficult to generate and sustain in an industrial environment. The invisible rays are absorbed by almost all materials, even the air, which means the lithography machines need to have mirrors in place of lenses and can only operate in a vacuum, end quote. Getting a grip on this technology was battling the limits of what was considered to be physically possible. So this research on EUV technology promised to consume a lot of capital with no guarantees of it actually working for commercial use, which is why Japanese companies like Nikon and Canon dropped out of the EUV race. In 2006,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In other words, these chip manufacturers are dealing with the tiniest of details. And guess who creates the only machine in the entire world that can manufacture these ultra-thin lines? You guessed it? It's ASML. Apple's growth also benefited from Moore's law, which is the observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles about every two years, which brings exponential growth in computing power and efficiency. In the late 90s, ASML bet that this would continue through extreme ultraviolet light or EUV for short. The closest place that you can find extreme ultraviolet light in the natural world is 93 million miles away at the sun's corona, but it could be produced on Earth with extremely sophisticated technology. If ASML were to crack the code on using EUV technology,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Declined, stating that the margins in mobile chips were far too small for such a company. In Hijink's words, this was a blunder of historic proportions. Considering that there are now 1.5 billion iPhones in circulation, Intel had shot themselves in the foot. So Apple went on to develop its first chips for the iPad and iPhone themselves after acquiring a chip company called PA Semi. Apple also benefited heavily from TSMC's new production techniques as the Taiwanese manufacturer became the first to figure out how to create chip structures using five nanometer technology. If you're wondering how small that is, look at your hand and count to five. Your fingernail grows at a rate of 1 nanometer per second. And just for reference, one nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Buttons in baby software. It's a fully fledged computer with just one button and a touchscreen. It was magic, all in the palm of your hand. The introduction of the iPhone marked the start of a revolution in mobile technology that would irrevocably alter daily life. Once billions of eyeballs caught sight of the revolution, they really never looked away as an app for everything was created and the pockets gradually got lighter as every assessory in our lives would be integrated into this one device. This revolution, of course, also changed the chip industry. The smartphone is itself a killer app in an indispensable tool that demands ever increasing memory, processing power, and sensors. In 2006, Intel was supplying Apple's computers, and they were asked if they could also supply the processor for the iPhone. And they actually”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Need to look under the hood. It would be practically impossible for ASML to produce these machines entirely fault-proof from the beginning, so they really just make them the best they can and fix any issues along the way. The chip manufacturing sites are closed off from the real world and are among some of the most dust-free environments in the world, as just the slightest thanks could impact the production of these chips. If we jump ahead to January 9th, 2007, Apple unveiled the device that would change everything and was said to have been able to do it all. Calls, emails, videos, music, everything. Steve Jobs, who's the king of product presentations, would walk out on stage to a standing ovation. Sporting is trademark jeans and black turtleneck. Jobs explain to an ecstatic crowd that the iPhone was no old-fashioned telephone with cumbersome”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Dependent on them, keeping good If they are unable to get just one critical part in these incredibly complex machines that they're making, then they're toast. And if ASML isn't able to get their machines to the chip manufacturers, then they're in trouble. It's estimated that 30% of the capital invested in a chip manufacturer is allocated to the lithography machines. It's an essential tool for transforming cheap and plentiful silicon into valuable chips. At the chip manufacturers, The lithography machines are running around 98 to 99% of the time if they're receiving proper maintenance, and they tend to produce 200 to 300 wafers of chips per hour. With each wafer being worth up to 250,000 dollars, due to the complexity of the process and the machine, setbacks are inevitable. And the manufacturers never know when an issue needs to arise. An ASML engineers”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Then they would likely need Zeiss to grow fast as well. However, they were a much different company than ASML. ASML tended to attract cowboys who wanted to shoot faster than the Shadows, while Zeiss fancied themselves as a traditional scientific institute that was slower and they were more calculated in their decision making. Another struggle was determining what type of pricing structure was really fair. Both companies were offering tremendously valuable services, and it's likely that both felt that they were getting the short end of the stick at times. The other issue was aligning incentives. There might be times where ASML suddenly cancels its orders of lenses because they were in an industry downturn. But if ASML does not share in the potential losses of such a cancellation, then there's really no real incentive to keep them from doing the same thing in the future. ASML success”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Bell for the Dutch manufacturer. This taught ASML the importance of patents and regulations. As they were rapidly innovating, they needed to be aware of the patents currently in place and protect the innovations that they themselves would come up with, which isn't the natural thing to do if you're purely focused on creating the best possible product. To have to record everything in an excruciating detail is just not fun. As a result of these efforts, by 2023, ASML would go on to have registered more than 16,000 patents. One of the growing pains that ASML went through was working with a company called Zeiss, which was probably their most important supplier. Zeiss manufactured optical systems like lenses and mirrors, which amazingly would account for around one-fourth of the value of the lithography machine. If ASML wanted to grow fast,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Japanese competition had taken note of ASML's stealing market share and unleashed an attack of their own on the company. One December morning, CEO Doug Dunn arrived at his desk to find that Nikon had accused ASML of infringing on 13 patents. While Nikon had an extensive portfolio of patents, having been in operation since 1917, ASML operated more like a young startup in comparison. After filing these accusations in the US, if ASML was declared to have even won patent violation, then they would not be able to supply machines to American manufacturers. Dunn's lawyers had told him they want to destroy you, communicating that Nikon wasn't interested in any negotiations or settling. Luckily for ASML, the patents did not hold up in court, sounding the victory”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And cut 23% of its workforce, which amounted to 2,000 workers in total. This was also just after they acquired an American competitor, Silicon Valley Group, which doubled their workforce to around 8,000 employees. SVG had Intel as a customer, and they wanted to use this as leverage to work their way to market leadership. The SVG acquisition needed to be reviewed and approved by US regulators, which involved a long and arduous process as the US needs to approve any acquisition in the space by foreign entities. Intel argued that the acquisition was necessary to advance lithography technology, which was in America's interest. The acquisition of SVG was successful in the sense that it did allow them to secure Intel as a customer, as they had seen the success that TSMC had by using ASML machines. By 2001,”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A style of management started to seep in from a world that revolved around short-term profit and the satisfaction of shareholders, the more Anglo-Saxon style, end quote. So I thought that was a really interesting piece from the book. Being mindful of costs is essential in the semiconductor industry because you need to be prepared for those downturns in the market. Around the year 2000, ASML had the capacity to produce 700 machines per year. And after the dot-com crash, they sold just 200 as canceled orders from the chip manufacturers poured in daily. Whether ASML liked it or not, a downturn is bound to happen about once every five years, which means that one year orders could double, and then in the next year, orders could get cut in half. In October of 2001, one month after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York City, ASML declared a state of emergency.”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, back to the show. Up to this point, ASML ran more like a startup, getting the innovations and the production done by whatever means possible with little regard for minimizing costs in the process. Many engineers were uninterested in keeping spinning in check, hygiene rights, although such disinterest is common among engineers, the reason so many felt at home in Veldhoven was precisely because of the harmony between their values and the culture of the company. ASML had its roots firmly in the Rhinish model in which money is not the sole benchmark of success in profit is only really visible over the long term. In the economics of Rhinish countries such as Switzerland, Germany, and France, solidarity and craftsmanship are traditionally deemed far more important than a Polish set of quarterly figures. However, as the company and its workers”
2025-08-22 · We Study Billionaires · TIP746: ASML: Europe's Tech Monopoly · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT