ASML Holding: CEO History

ASML sits in an unusual position: it is the only supplier of EUV lithography in a market with very few buyers, which removes competitive pressure but concentrates other risks. Export controls are the most immediate constraint. The Netherlands has blocked EUV exports to China since 2019, extended controls to advanced DUV immersion systems in 2023 and to certain metrology and inspection systems in January 2025, and the EU incorporated those Dutch controls into its own control list in November 2025. Customers in China still accounted for 29.1 percent of 2025 total net sales, down from 36.1 percent in 2024, so further tightening would bite. Customer concentration is the second risk: four customers each represented more than 10 percent of 2025 sales, and Taiwan and South Korea accounted for 25.5 percent and 25.0 percent of sales respectively, which ties results to a handful of capital expenditure decisions and to stability in two locations. Supply is the third. Carl Zeiss SMT is the sole source of ASML optics under an exclusive arrangement, and ASML states that if that relationship ended it would effectively be unable to conduct its business. Most other key suppliers also operate a small number of plants. Fourth, the company is exposed to the semiconductor capital expenditure cycle: mainstream demand outside China stayed weak through 2025 even as AI-driven leading-edge logic and DRAM investment grew. Finally, ASML has had to defend its intellectual property in court, most prominently against XTAL, and in January 2026 it announced changes to its Technology and IT organizations that could mean a net reduction of 1,700 positions.