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ASML Holding NV

Semiconductor Equipment ManufacturingFounded 1984
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: September 2026

Acquisitions

ASML Holding Acquisitions

5

Major Deals Covered

$7.6B

Disclosed Deal Value

What are ASML Holding's biggest acquisitions?

ASML Holding's largest disclosed acquisition here is Hermes Microvision Inc. (HMI) for $3.1B in 2016. This page covers 5 major deals from 2001 to 2020, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.

Major deals covered
5
Largest deal
Hermes Microvision Inc. (HMI) ($3.1B)
First deal
2001
Most recent
2020
CompanyYearPricePurpose
Silicon Valley Group (SVG)2001$1.6BASML agreed in 2000 and completed in 2001 the acquisition of Silicon Valley Group, the largest American lithography equipment manufacturer, for about 1.6 billion dollars in stock. SVG brought relationships with American chipmakers including Intel and Texas Instruments, a deep ultraviolet technology portfolio, US manufacturing and service infrastructure, and the Tinsley optics business. The deal cleared a US national security review before closing.
Brion Technologies2007$270.0MASML acquired Brion Technologies of Santa Clara, California in 2007 for about 270 million dollars. Brion built computational lithography software that models how light behaves through the scanner optics and pre-distorts the mask pattern so the printed result is correct, work known as optical proximity correction and source-mask optimization. ASML describes the deal as the start of its holistic lithography strategy.
Cymer Inc.2013$2.6BASML agreed in October 2012 to acquire Cymer, the San Diego supplier of the excimer laser light sources used in DUV lithography, in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at ~$2.2 billion (1.95 billion euros), about 2.6 billion dollars at the time, and completed the deal in May 2013. Each Cymer share was exchanged for 20 dollars in cash plus 1.1502 ASML ordinary shares. Cymer already supplied ASML exclusively, so the main motive was to take direct control of EUV light source development, which was the bottleneck holding up the whole EUV program.
Hermes Microvision Inc. (HMI)2016$3.1BASML acquired Hermes Microvision, the Taiwan-based maker of electron-beam wafer inspection systems, in 2016 for about 3.1 billion dollars. HMI e-beam tools locate and analyze individual defects at very high resolution among millions of printed patterns, providing the measurement data ASML needs to adjust lithography system settings for yield. The deal extended the holistic lithography strategy started with Brion.
Berliner Glas Group2020UndisclosedASML completed the acquisition of the Berliner Glas Group in November 2020. The German company manufactures high-precision optical assemblies, ceramic components and wafer chucks used in ASML EUV and DUV systems. The deal secured supply of critical optical and mechanical subassemblies at a point when ASML was ramping EUV output. The transaction value was not disclosed.
What companies has ASML Holding bought?
Major acquisitions by ASML Holding documented here include Hermes Microvision Inc. (HMI) (2016), Cymer Inc. (2013), Silicon Valley Group (SVG) (2001), Brion Technologies (2007) and Berliner Glas Group (2020).
What is ASML Holding's most recent acquisition?
The most recent ASML Holding acquisition documented here is Berliner Glas Group, in 2020.

Berliner Glas Group

2020

Why

ASML completed the acquisition of the Berliner Glas Group in November 2020. The German company manufactures high-precision optical assemblies, ceramic components and wafer chucks used in ASML EUV and DUV systems. The deal secured supply of critical optical and mechanical subassemblies at a point when ASML was ramping EUV output. The transaction value was not disclosed.

Impact

The acquisition brought a supplier of hard-to-source precision components inside the company and added Berlin to ASML's manufacturing footprint, alongside Veldhoven, Eindhoven and Oirschot in the Netherlands, Wilton and San Diego in the United States, Pyeongtaek in South Korea and Linkou and Tainan in Taiwan.

Outcome

The group technical glass division, which was not related to semiconductor manufacturing, was divested to Glas Troesch Group in April 2021. The remaining operations are part of ASML.

Source →

Hermes Microvision Inc. (HMI)

2016

$3.1B

Why

ASML acquired Hermes Microvision, the Taiwan-based maker of electron-beam wafer inspection systems, in 2016 for about 3.1 billion dollars. HMI e-beam tools locate and analyze individual defects at very high resolution among millions of printed patterns, providing the measurement data ASML needs to adjust lithography system settings for yield. The deal extended the holistic lithography strategy started with Brion.

Impact

The acquisition moved ASML from a lithography supplier toward a patterning and process control supplier, letting it sell scanners, computational lithography, optical metrology and e-beam inspection as one package. That combination is worth more to a chipmaker than standalone equipment and deepens the integration with customer processes.

Outcome

HMI products are sold as the eScan e-beam inspection family and the first e-beam pattern fidelity metrology system, the ePfm5, shipped in 2017. ASML reported in 2025 that its multibeam e-beam platform had reached a maturity level where it can be considered for high-volume manufacturing, and sold 208 metrology and inspection systems that year for ~$932 million (824.6 million euros).

Source →

Cymer Inc.

2013

$2.6B

Why

ASML agreed in October 2012 to acquire Cymer, the San Diego supplier of the excimer laser light sources used in DUV lithography, in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at ~$2.2 billion (1.95 billion euros), about 2.6 billion dollars at the time, and completed the deal in May 2013. Each Cymer share was exchanged for 20 dollars in cash plus 1.1502 ASML ordinary shares. Cymer already supplied ASML exclusively, so the main motive was to take direct control of EUV light source development, which was the bottleneck holding up the whole EUV program.

Impact

Owning the light source let ASML integrate source and scanner engineering closely enough to raise EUV power and uptime to production levels, and removed any possibility of a competitor sourcing equivalent lasers. It also gave ASML control of a component that increasingly determines DUV system performance.

Outcome

Cymer has operated as an ASML business since 2013 and remains the dominant supplier of excimer laser light sources for semiconductor lithography. EUV reached production-worthy performance four years after the deal closed, and ASML recognized 48 EUV systems in sales in 2025.

Source →

Brion Technologies

2007

$270M

Why

ASML acquired Brion Technologies of Santa Clara, California in 2007 for about 270 million dollars. Brion built computational lithography software that models how light behaves through the scanner optics and pre-distorts the mask pattern so the printed result is correct, work known as optical proximity correction and source-mask optimization. ASML describes the deal as the start of its holistic lithography strategy.

Impact

Brion gave ASML a software capability that hardware-only competitors could not match and let it sell process window and yield improvements alongside scanners. The same computational tools later became a prerequisite for making EUV patterning yield in production.

Outcome

Brion's computational lithography software is integrated across ASML portfolio and, together with YieldStar optical metrology first shipped in 2008 and the later HMI e-beam systems, forms the holistic lithography offering.

Source →

Silicon Valley Group (SVG)

2001

$1.6B

Why

ASML agreed in 2000 and completed in 2001 the acquisition of Silicon Valley Group, the largest American lithography equipment manufacturer, for about 1.6 billion dollars in stock. SVG brought relationships with American chipmakers including Intel and Texas Instruments, a deep ultraviolet technology portfolio, US manufacturing and service infrastructure, and the Tinsley optics business. The deal cleared a US national security review before closing.

Impact

The acquisition gave ASML scale and support infrastructure in the United States at a point when it was still seen as a European supplier, and removed the main American competitor in advanced lithography. Combined with the TWINSCAN platform introduced the same year, it set up the market share shift away from Nikon and Canon that followed in the mid-2000s.

Outcome

ASML retained SVG's engineering talent and customers and folded the product lines into its own portfolio. By the mid-2000s ASML had passed Nikon in global lithography market share, a position it has held since.

Source →

ASML Holding NV's Growth & Acquisition Strategy

Growth depends on how fast chipmakers add advanced capacity and on how quickly ASML can build systems. In EUV, the workhorse is the TWINSCAN NXE:3800E, whose higher productivity drove 2025 EUV sales and a large volume of field upgrades on installed systems; ASML recognized 44 NXE systems for ~$11.8 billion (10.4 billion euros) in 2025. The next step is the High-NA EXE platform, which raises numerical aperture from 0.33 to 0.55 and prints 8 nanometer features in a single exposure. ASML shipped its first full-specification EXE:5200B in April 2025 at 175 wafers per hour, 60 percent more productive than the EXE:5000, recognized four EXE systems for ~$1.36 billion (1.2 billion euros) in 2025, and expects the platform to support high-volume manufacturing from 2027. Beyond lithography, ASML is pushing multibeam e-beam inspection toward high-volume manufacturing, shipped its first advanced packaging system the TWINSCAN XT:260 in 2025 to address 3D integration, and invested ~$1.47 billion (1.3 billion euros) in Mistral AI for about 11 percent on a fully diluted basis to apply AI models across its products and operations. Service and field option sales, which grew 26.2 percent to ~$9.27 billion (8.2 billion euros) in 2025, expand automatically with the installed base.

How ASML Holding NV Makes Money

ASML designs and assembles lithography systems, sells them to a small number of chipmakers, and then earns recurring revenue maintaining and upgrading the installed base. In 2025, net system sales were ~$27.7 billion (24.5 billion euros), or 74.9 percent of total net sales, and net service and field option sales were ~$9.27 billion (8.2 billion euros), or 25.1 percent. Customer concentration is extreme: four customers each accounted for more than 10 percent of 2025 net sales and together for 61.2 percent, while the single largest customer accounted for ~$8.81 billion (7.8 billion euros), or 23.9 percent. ASML works as a systems integrator rather than a vertically integrated manufacturer. It buys all lenses, mirrors, illuminators and collectors exclusively from Carl Zeiss SMT, in which it holds a 24.9 percent stake, and draws on a base of about 5,100 suppliers. Because systems take many months to build, customers pay substantial down payments before delivery.

ASML Holding Acquisitions FAQ

When and for how much did ASML acquire EUV light source maker Cymer?

ASML agreed in October 2012 to acquire the San Diego light source maker Cymer in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at ~$2.2 billion (1.95 billion euros), about 2.6 billion dollars at the time, and completed the deal in May 2013. Each Cymer share was exchanged for 20 dollars in cash plus 1.1502 ASML ordinary shares. The motive was direct control of the EUV light source, which was holding up the whole EUV program.

When did ASML acquire e-beam inspection leader Hermes Microvision (HMI)?

ASML announced the acquisition of the Taiwanese e-beam metrology and inspection maker Hermes Microvision in June 2016 and completed it in November 2016, for about 3.1 billion dollars. HMI tools became the eScan family and the data they produce feeds ASML's holistic lithography approach to defect control and yield.

When did ASML acquire computational lithography software leader Brion Technologies?

ASML acquired Santa Clara-based Brion Technologies in March 2007 for $270 million in cash, gaining market-leading optical proximity correction (OPC) simulation software that optimizes digital photomask designs for silicon exposure.

When did ASML acquire specialized optics component manufacturer Berliner Glas?

ASML completed the acquisition of the German precision optics, ceramics and wafer chuck manufacturer Berliner Glas Group in November 2020, securing supply of critical EUV and DUV subassemblies. The value was not disclosed. The group technical glass division was divested to Glas Troesch Group in April 2021.

When did ASML acquire U.S. lithography company Silicon Valley Group (SVG)?

ASML agreed the acquisition of Silicon Valley Group in 2000 and completed it in 2001 for about 1.6 billion dollars in stock, clearing a US national security review. The deal brought SVG's Tinsley optics business, its deep ultraviolet portfolio and its American customer relationships and service footprint.

What was ASML's ~$1.13 billion (€1.0 billion) strategic equity investment in Carl Zeiss SMT in 2016?

In November 2016, ASML acquired a 24.9% equity minority stake in Carl Zeiss SMT for ~$1.13 billion (€1.0 billion) and committed ~$859 million (€760 million) in capital expenditures to co-fund next-generation High-NA EUV optics development.

What other acquisitions and investments has ASML made to secure its technology base?

ASML acquired the intellectual property of the Delft e-beam company Mapper Lithography following its 2018 liquidation and offered roles to its R&D and assembly staff, and it bought Berliner Glas in 2020 for precision optics and wafer chucks. In 2025 it invested ~$1.47 billion (1.3 billion euros) in Mistral AI as lead investor, taking about 11 percent on a fully diluted basis, its largest equity investment outside Carl Zeiss SMT.

How does ASML integrate acquired technology companies into its Veldhoven production lines?

ASML integrates acquired hardware and software components into modular 'cleanroom subsystem modules' that are tested independently before being shipped to Veldhoven for final system integration and calibration.

What is ASML's biggest acquisition?

ASML famously executed a massive $3.7 billion acquisition of the US company Cymer in 2012, which was absolutely crucial for developing the light source needed for their EUV machines.

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Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.