Focus

For decades the most valuable technology company in Europe operated in the shadows. The chips manufactured by its machines, power our smartphones and AI assistants, make our coffee and drive our cars and even guide cruise missiles. In fact, roughly 90% of all chips worldwide are made with ASML’s machines. In recent years, the Dutch manufacturing company has found itself in the spotlight, at the centre of a geopolitical storm between the United States, China and Europe. In Focus – The ASML way, journalist Marc Hijink brings us a unique insider portrait of this global giant. Hijink not only details the company’s meteoric rise from a quiet town in the Netherlands to a powerful, global monopoly position, he also makes accessible the unbelievably complex technology that has been the key to ASML’s success. It’s lithography machines, which spit out millions of chips around the clock, work to an accuracy of within a few atoms. China is trying to copy the ASML technology while investing billions in its own chip-manufacturing programs to rival that of Taiwan. The US, in turn, seems to have the Dutch government on their side as they try and resuscitate their own chip manufacturing industry amid trade and cyber-warfare with China. Behind all the mind-blowing tech, Hijink discovers, ASML is a company fighting its own demons, scrambling to keep up with its success and an increasing number of security threats. This is the intimate story of the people and culture behind a business now caught in a diplomatic struggle for global might.