Amgen vs ASML Holding: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Amgen and ASML Holding side by side

1. 1980Amgen

   Applied Molecular Genetics is incorporated

   Applied Molecular Genetics (AMGen) was incorporated on April 8, 1980 in Thousand Oaks, California, as the idea of venture capitalist William K. Bowes Jr. and a group of scientific collaborators.

2. 1983Amgen

   Nasdaq listing and the erythropoietin clone

   Amgen completed its initial public offering on June 17, 1983, raising nearly US$40 million under chief financial officer Gordon Binder, and formally shortened its name to Amgen.

3. 1984Amgen

   Kirin-Amgen joint venture formed

   Amgen and Kirin Brewery Company of Japan formed Kirin-Amgen in 1984 as a joint venture for the worldwide commercialization of erythropoietin.

4. 1984ASML Holding

   Founded as ASM Lithography in Eindhoven

   ASM Lithography starts operations on April 1, 1984 as a joint venture between Philips and ASM International, with the mandate to commercialize the PAS 2000 wafer stepper developed inside Philips.

5. 1985Amgen

   G-CSF cloned, leading to Neupogen

   While Fu-Kuen Lin's team worked on erythropoietin, researcher Larry Souza and his group cloned and expressed human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in 1985.

6. 1986ASML Holding

   PAS 2500 stepper and the Carl Zeiss partnership

   ASML brings the PAS 2500 stepper to market with a new wafer alignment system developed by first chief scientist Steef Wittekoek, and establishes the optics partnership with Carl Zeiss that still supplies every ASML lithography system.

7. 1988ASML Holding

   ASM International withdraws and Philips funds a rescue

   With few customers and heavy cash consumption, ASM International decides to stop funding the joint venture while Philips launches a company-wide cost-cutting program.

8. 1989Amgen

   FDA approves Epogen

   The FDA approved Epogen (epoetin alfa) on June 1, 1989 for anemia in patients with chronic kidney failure on dialysis. It was the first commercial recombinant human erythropoietin. Epogen's U.S.

9. 1991Amgen

   Neupogen approved, giving Amgen a second franchise

   The FDA approved Neupogen (filgrastim) in February 1991. By stimulating white blood cell production it reduced the risk of infection in cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced neutropenia.

10. 1991Amgen

    Amgen wins the erythropoietin patent fight

    On March 6, 1991 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the Kirin-Amgen erythropoietin patent and ruled against Genetics Institute in Amgen v. Chugai Pharmaceutical and Genetics Institute.

11. 1991ASML Holding

    PAS 5500 platform turns the company around

    ASML launches the PAS 5500 platform, whose productivity and resolution win the first large orders from Intel and IBM under chief executive Willem Maris and take the company to profitability. PAS 5500 systems are still running in customer fabs decades later.

12. 1995ASML Holding

    IPO in Amsterdam and on Nasdaq

    ASML becomes a fully independent public company with a dual listing on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Philips sells half of its shares at the IPO and divests the remainder over the following years.

13. 2001Amgen

    FDA approves Aranesp, the longer-acting EPO

    Aranesp (darbepoetin alfa), an erythropoietin analogue with modified glycosylation and a longer half-life, was approved in 2001. Less frequent dosing than Epogen improved convenience and gave Amgen a newer, higher-priced product to migrate patients toward.

14. 2001ASML Holding

    TWINSCAN platform launched and Silicon Valley Group acquired

    ASML introduces the TWINSCAN dual-stage architecture, which exposes one wafer while the next is measured and aligned, lifting throughput and overlay accuracy above competing systems.

15. 2002Amgen

    US$16 billion Immunex acquisition brings Enbrel in-house

    Amgen completed its acquisition of Immunex Corporation on July 16, 2002, the largest biotechnology deal to that point at about US$16 billion in stock and cash.

16. 2003ASML Holding

    First immersion lithography system

    The TWINSCAN AT:1150i debuts as ASML's first immersion machine, projecting 193 nanometer light through a layer of ultrapure water between the lens and the wafer to raise resolution.

17. 2010Amgen

    Prolia and XGEVA create the bone health franchise

    The FDA approved Prolia (denosumab) for postmenopausal osteoporosis in June 2010 and XGEVA, the same molecule at a higher dose, for prevention of skeletal-related events in cancer patients in November 2010.

18. 2010ASML Holding

    First EUV prototype shipped

    ASML ships the TWINSCAN NXE:3100, its first extreme ultraviolet lithography tool, to the research facility of an Asian chipmaker.

19. 2012ASML Holding

    Customer Co-Investment Program with Intel, TSMC and Samsung

    Intel, TSMC and Samsung acquire newly issued ASML shares equal to an aggregate 23 percent minority stake for ~$4.35 billion (3.85 billion euros) in cash, and separately commit ~$1.56 billion (1.38 billion euros) of R&D funding over five years dedicated to EUV…

20. 2013ASML Holding

    Cymer acquisition completed and second-generation EUV shipped

    ASML completes the acquisition of Cymer, the San Diego supplier of the light sources used in its lithography systems, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at ~$2.2 billion (1.95 billion euros) when it was agreed in October 2012.

21. 2017ASML Holding

    EUV enters high-volume manufacturing

    ASML begins shipping the production-ready TWINSCAN NXE:3400B after customers started ordering the NXE:3400 generation in batches in 2016, roughly two decades after EUV research began.

22. 2019Amgen

    US$13.4 billion purchase of Otezla from Celgene

    Amgen agreed in August 2019 to buy worldwide rights to Otezla (apremilast) from Celgene for US$13.4 billion in cash, or about US$11.2 billion net of the present value of US$2.2 billion of anticipated future cash tax benefits, and closed on November 21, 2019.

23. 2019ASML Holding

    Dutch government stops EUV exports to China

    The Netherlands does not renew ASML's export licence for EUV systems to China, the start of a widening export control regime.

24. 2020Amgen

    Amgen joins the Dow Jones Industrial Average

    Amgen replaced Pfizer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on August 31, 2020, becoming one of the thirty components in the index. Inclusion recognized the scale Amgen had reached and added passive demand from Dow-tracking funds.

25. 2023Amgen

    US$27.8 billion Horizon Therapeutics acquisition closes

    Amgen completed the acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc on October 6, 2023 for US$116.50 per share in cash, an equity value of about US$27.8 billion, after settling FTC litigation with a behavioral consent decree.

26. 2023ASML Holding

    First High-NA EUV system shipped

    ASML ships the first of its next-generation EUV systems with a numerical aperture of 0.55, the TWINSCAN EXE:5000, to Intel in Hillsboro, Oregon.

27. 2024Amgen

    Imdelltra becomes the first T-cell engager for small cell lung cancer

    The FDA granted accelerated approval to tarlatamab, sold as Imdelltra, on May 16, 2024 for extensive stage small cell lung cancer that has progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy.

28. 2024ASML Holding

    Christophe Fouquet becomes chief executive

    Peter Wennink and Martin van den Brink step down as presidents of ASML on April 24, 2024 and Christophe Fouquet becomes president, chief executive officer and chair of the Board of Management.

29. 2025Amgen

    VESALIUS-CV extends the Repatha case to primary prevention

    In November 2025 Amgen reported Phase 3 VESALIUS-CV results in more than 12,000 patients with atherosclerosis or diabetes but no prior heart attack or stroke.

30. 2025ASML Holding

    Record year, first EXE:5200B and Mistral AI investment

    ASML reports total net sales of ~$37 billion (32.7 billion euros), up 15.6 percent, net income of ~$10.8 billion (9.6 billion euros), a gross margin of 52.8 percent and 535 systems sold, and closes the year with a backlog of ~$43.8 billion (38.8 billion euros)…

31. 2026Amgen

    Medicare price setting reaches Enbrel and Otezla

    Enbrel's negotiated Medicare price under the Inflation Reduction Act took effect on January 1, 2026, after it was named in the first round of ten drugs selected for negotiation.

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