ASML Holding vs Tesla: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: ASML Holding and Tesla side by side

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 2003Tesla

   Tesla Motors Founded

   Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning to prove that lithium-ion batteries could power a desirable electric car.

9. 2004Tesla

   Elon Musk Leads Series A

   Elon Musk led Tesla's Series A financing in 2004 and became chairman. The investment gave Tesla enough capital and public credibility to continue Roadster development.

10. 2008Tesla

    Roadster Launch

    The Roadster launched in 2008 as a highway-capable electric sports car with more than 200 miles of range. It mattered because it proved an EV could be fast, premium and emotionally desirable.

11. 2008Tesla

    Elon Musk Becomes CEO

    Musk became CEO in 2008 during a severe financing and production crisis. He restructured operations, secured emergency funding and pushed the company toward a clearer product sequence.

12. 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.

13. 2010Tesla

    Tesla IPO

    Tesla went public in 2010, raising capital while still far from stable profitability. The IPO mattered because it gave Tesla access to public-market funding for product development and manufacturing.

14. 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…

15. 2012Tesla

    Model S Launch

    The Model S launched in 2012 and moved Tesla beyond the Roadster niche. It mattered because it combined range, software, performance and premium design in a vehicle Tesla controlled more fully.

16. 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.

17. 2014Tesla

    Gigafactory Strategy Announced

    Tesla announced the Gigafactory strategy in 2014 with Panasonic as a key partner. The move mattered because batteries were the limiting input for EV scale, cost and range.

18. 2016Tesla

    SolarCity Acquired

    Tesla's 2016 SolarCity acquisition is company-specific because it changed the portfolio rather than simply adding scale. The reported value was $2.6B.

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. 2017Tesla

    Model 3 Production Crisis

    The Model 3 ramp in 2017 exposed severe bottlenecks caused partly by excessive automation. The crisis mattered because Tesla's mass-market strategy depended on producing a lower-priced vehicle at high volume.

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. 2020Tesla

    S&P 500 Inclusion

    Tesla joined the S&P 500 in 2020 after proving sustained profitability. The milestone mattered because it brought index-fund ownership, wider institutional attention and validation that Tesla was no longer a speculative startup.

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. 2023Tesla

    Global Price Cuts

    Tesla cut prices across major markets in 2023 to defend demand and pressure competitors. The move mattered because it showed Tesla could use its direct-sales model to adjust faster than dealer-based rivals.

25. 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.

26. 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)…

27. 2025Tesla

    $94.8B Revenue and Delivery Decline

    In FY2025, Tesla reported $94.8B in revenue and delivered 1,636,129 vehicles. The milestone mattered because revenue and deliveries both showed the company had entered a more mature, contested phase.

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