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ASML Holding vs PepsiCo: Founders, CEOs and History

ASML Holding was founded in 1984 by Philips Electronics, Arthur del Prado and is led by Christophe Fouquet. PepsiCo was founded in 1965 by Caleb Bradham, Donald M. Kendall, Herman W. Lay and is led by Ramon Laguarta.

Company facts

ASML Holding

Founded
1984
Headquarters
Veldhoven, Netherlands
Current CEO
Christophe Fouquet
Employees
44,209

PepsiCo

Founded
1965
Headquarters
Purchase, New York, United States
Current CEO
Ramon Laguarta
Employees
306,000

Founders

ASML Holding

  • Philips Electronics

    ASML was not founded by an individual with a vision. It was an underfunded joint venture between a conglomerate that wanted a project off its books and a smaller equipment company that wanted into lithography.

  • Arthur del Prado

    Del Prado contribution to ASML was structural and financial rather than technical.

ASML Holding founders in full

PepsiCo

  • Caleb Bradham

    Caleb Bradham created "Brad's Drink" at his New Bern pharmacy in 1898, renamed it Pepsi-Cola and incorporated the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902.

  • Donald M. Kendall

    Donald M. Kendall led Pepsi-Cola and engineered its 1965 merger with Frito-Lay to form PepsiCo, which he ran as CEO until 1986.

  • Herman W. Lay

    Herman W. Lay (1909-1982) started his career as a snack food salesman. In 1932, he opened a snack food operation in Nashville, Tennessee, eventually purchasing the manufacturer and renaming it H.W. Lay & Company.

PepsiCo founders in full

CEOs and their tenures

ASML Holding

  1. Willem Maris1990–1999

    President and Chief Executive Officer

    Willem Maris was recruited from the Philips managerial ranks to run ASML in 1990, when the company was still loss-making and dependent on parent funding. His first task was keeping it solvent through the early 1990s downturn.

    Source
  2. Doug Dunn1999–2004

    President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

    Doug Dunn took over as president and chief executive on April 1, 1999 and ran ASML through the dot-com boom and the sharp semiconductor downturn that followed.

    Source
  3. Eric Meurice2004–2013

    President and Chief Executive Officer

    Eric Meurice was appointed president and chief executive effective October 1, 2004, joining from Thomson where he ran the television division.

    Source
  4. Peter Wennink2013–2024

    President and Chief Executive Officer

    Peter Wennink joined ASML as chief financial officer in 1999 after a career at Deloitte Accountants covering semiconductor clients, and became chief executive on July 1, 2013, leading the company jointly with technology chief Martin van den Brink.

    Source
  5. Christophe Fouquet2024–present

    President, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Management

    Christophe Fouquet became president and chief executive on April 24, 2024, succeeding Peter Wennink and Martin van den Brink.

    Source
ASML Holding CEO history in full

PepsiCo

  1. D. Wayne Calloway1986–1996

    Chief Executive Officer

    He more than doubled PepsiCo's revenues during his tenure and heavily invested in the restaurant division before it was later spun off.

    Source
  2. Roger Enrico1996–2001

    Chief Executive Officer

    He dramatically simplified the company's structure, allowing it to focus resources on its core grocery and convenience store distribution networks.

    Source
  3. Steven Reinemund2001–2006

    Chief Executive Officer

    He oversaw significant international expansion and revenue growth, setting a strong operational foundation before handing leadership to Nooyi.

    Source
  4. Indra Nooyi2006–2018

    Chief Executive Officer

    Under her 12-year tenure as CEO, PepsiCo's revenue grew by more than 80%, and she fundamentally reshaped the company's identity from a junk-food purveyor to a diversified global food and beverage giant.

    Source
  5. Ramon Laguarta2018–present

    Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer

    He sustained strong organic revenue growth and protected operating margins through historically challenging supply chain conditions, while committing the company to major sustainability and packaging reduction goals.

    Source
PepsiCo CEO history in full

Timeline: ASML Holding and PepsiCo side by side

  1. 1898PepsiCo

    Pepsi-Cola Invented in North Carolina

    Caleb Bradham formulated the original digestive cola syrup in his drugstore.

  2. 1965PepsiCo

    Historic Merger of Pepsi-Cola & Frito-Lay

    Donald Kendall and Herman Lay created PepsiCo, uniting snacks and soft drinks.

  3. 1975PepsiCo

    Launch of the Pepsi Challenge

    National blind taste tests shook Coca-Cola's market dominance and redefined advertising.

  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. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 1997PepsiCo

    Restaurant Business Spun Off

    PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses (Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC) as Tricon Global Restaurants, now Yum! Brands, in 1997.

  10. 1998PepsiCo

    Acquisition of Tropicana ($3.3B)

    Acquired chilled orange juice leader Tropicana to dominate morning beverages.

  11. 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.

  12. 2001PepsiCo

    Acquisition of Quaker Oats & Gatorade ($13.4B)

    Acquired Quaker Oats, adding sports hydration pioneer Gatorade to the portfolio.

  13. 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.

  14. 2006PepsiCo

    Indra Nooyi becomes CEO

    Indra Nooyi became CEO of PepsiCo in 2006. Chief executive of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2018.

  15. 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.

  16. 2011PepsiCo

    Wimm-Bill-Dann Acquired

    PepsiCo completed its acquisition of the Russian dairy and juice company Wimm-Bill-Dann in 2011.

  17. 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…

  18. 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.

  19. 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.

  20. 2018PepsiCo

    Acquisition of SodaStream ($3.2B) & Ramon Laguarta Appointed CEO

    Acquired SodaStream to pioneer eco-friendly dispensing; Ramon Laguarta took over as CEO.

  21. 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.

  22. 2022PepsiCo

    Strategic Distribution Alliance with Celsius ($550M)

    Secured master global distribution for fast-growing energy brand Celsius.

  23. 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.

  24. 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.

  25. 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)…

  26. 2025PepsiCo

    poppi Acquisition and Elliott-Backed Plan

    Closed the $1.95 billion poppi deal and announced a North America cost and pricing reset in December.

  27. 2026PepsiCo

    Price Cuts on Core Snacks

    Lowered prices on major Frito-Lay brands by up to 15% to recover US volumes.

Acquisitions

ASML Holding

  • Berliner Glas Group2020Undisclosed
  • Hermes Microvision Inc. (HMI)2016$3.1B
  • Cymer Inc.2013$2.6B
  • Brion Technologies2007$270M
  • Silicon Valley Group (SVG)2001$1.6B
All ASML Holding acquisitions

PepsiCo

  • poppi2025$1.9B
  • SodaStream International2018$3.2B
  • The Quaker Oats Company (including Gatorade)2001$13.4B
  • Tropicana Products1998$3.3B
All PepsiCo acquisitions

Questions about ASML Holding vs PepsiCo

Who is the CEO of ASML Holding NV and PepsiCo, Inc.?

ASML Holding NV is led by Christophe Fouquet and PepsiCo, Inc. is led by Ramon Laguarta. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.

When was ASML Holding NV founded vs PepsiCo, Inc.?

PepsiCo, Inc. was founded in 1965 — 19 years before ASML Holding NV, which was founded in 1984. PepsiCo, Inc.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger ASML Holding NV.

How many employees does ASML Holding NV have compared to PepsiCo, Inc.?

ASML Holding NV employs approximately 44,209 people, while PepsiCo, Inc. employs approximately 306,000. PepsiCo, Inc. has the larger workforce at 306,000 employees, compared to ASML Holding NV's 44,209. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).

Where are ASML Holding NV and PepsiCo, Inc. headquartered?

ASML Holding NV is headquartered in Netherlands and PepsiCo, Inc. is headquartered in United States. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.

Who founded ASML Holding NV and PepsiCo, Inc.?

ASML Holding NV was founded by Philips Electronics, Arthur del Prado. PepsiCo, Inc. was founded by Caleb Bradham, Donald M. Kendall, Herman W. Lay.

Which company has a longer operating history — ASML Holding NV or PepsiCo, Inc.?

PepsiCo, Inc. has been operating for approximately 61 years, making it the more established of the two companies. ASML Holding NV has been in operation for around 42 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.

Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the ASML Holding vs PepsiCo overview

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.