ASML Holding is mapping out a multi-year expansion of its semiconductor equipment portfolio to capture more of the market tied to artificial intelligence chips, company executives say. Best known as the only supplier of extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography machines that are central to producing the most advanced AI processors, ASML has spent more than a decade and billions of dollars developing EUV and is now preparing to broaden the range of tools it offers.
The Dutch group has a next-generation EUV model approaching production readiness and is researching a possible third generation. But leadership is also looking past lithography to adjacent segments of chip manufacturing that are increasingly critical for AI workloads: advanced packaging and the tooling needed to glue and connect multiple specialized chips together.
"We look, not just for the next five years, we look at the next 10, maybe 15 years," ASML Chief Technology Officer Marco Pieters said. "(We look at) what are potential directions the industry could take, and what would it require in terms of packaging, bonding, etc.?"
From lithography to packaging
ASML's EUV machines perform lithography, using light to transfer intricate patterns onto silicon wafers. That capability has been a foundation for clients such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Intel in producing leading-edge AI chips. Yet ASML executives are explicit that the company seeks to grow beyond those roots by building machines for the evolving needs of chipmakers.
Advanced packaging - the collection of processes that bind chips into stacked or multi-die assemblies - has become a more strategic, higher-margin area as designers move from single-layer chips to multi-level structures. The so-called stamp-sized limit on chip dimensions has encouraged designers to stack dies vertically or tile them horizontally to increase compute density and throughput for large AI models.
"Accuracy is becoming more and more important," Pieters said, noting that advanced packaging has shifted from a lower-margin volume business into a technology-sensitive segment of manufacturing. He pointed to work by leading foundries and memory manufacturers as evidence there will be demand for additional machines capable of enabling stacked chips and other advanced assemblies.
New machines and larger chip formats
ASML disclosed last year a scanning tool called the XT:260, which the company designed to assist in the production of advanced memory chips used in AI systems and in AI processors themselves. Company engineers are investigating further tool designs and potential product portfolios directed at advanced packaging needs.
Beyond packaging, ASML is exploring whether its lithography systems can be adapted to print chips larger than the roughly postage-stamp-size limit that currently constrains chip dimensions. Expanding the maximum printable chip area would address the industry trend toward larger AI dies and could influence throughput and performance characteristics.
Pieters emphasized that ASML's expertise in optics and wafer handling will be an advantage when developing such systems. Those capabilities, built over decades of lithography work, are likely to sit alongside the company's traditional product lines rather than replace them.
AI integration across tools and software
Pieters, who has worked extensively in ASML's software development efforts, said as tools become faster and more complex, the firm plans to integrate AI into machine control software and inspection workflows. The aim is to use AI to accelerate the operation and the real-time inspection of chips as they are fabricated.
That integration is intended for both newly developed businesses and legacy efforts, signaling that AI will be both a market driver and an internal productivity lever for ASML's engineering teams.
Leadership and organizational changes
In October, ASML appointed Marco Pieters to the role of chief technology officer, succeeding Martin van den Brink, who led the technology unit for about 40 years. In January the company reorganized its technology organization to give engineering roles priority over management tracks. Investors appear to have already factored ASML's technological leadership into the stock: the shares trade at about 40 times forward earnings and have risen by more than 30% year to date.
The firm faces high expectations for Pieters and newly appointed CEO Christophe Fouquet, who assumed his position in 2024.
Market positioning and product strategy
ASML executives describe active research into machines that can aid the assembly and packaging of multi-die chips and the development of scanners and lithography tools to support larger chip formats. The company believes the optical expertise and wafer handling know-how embedded in its scanning equipment provide a platform to build future machines that address these needs.
"It will co-exist next to what we’ve been doing for the last 40 years," Pieters said, indicating the new line of equipment would complement rather than supplant the company's core EUV business.
Valuation and investor expectations
Investors have priced ASML's dominance in EUV into its valuation. For comparison, the article noted that Nvidia trades at about 22 times forward earnings, while ASML's forward multiple is roughly 40. The company’s market capitalization was cited at $560 billion.
Third-party evaluation reference
Also noted was an external evaluation tool that assesses ASML among thousands of companies using more than 100 financial metrics. That evaluation cited past winners in its strategies, including Super Micro Computer (+185%) and AppLovin (+157%), and described its methodology as identifying stocks with favorable risk-reward profiles using AI-driven screening. The evaluation posed the question of whether ASML appears in the tool’s strategies or whether alternative opportunities exist in the same sector.
As ASML pursues a broader product roadmap, it is positioning optical and wafer-handling expertise to serve the next phases of chip architecture - particularly those driven by rapid growth in AI workloads and the memory that supports them. How the company converts ongoing research into commercially viable products and how the market prices that potential remain open questions for investors and customers.