Focus: The ASML Way
By Marc Hijink (2024)
Pages: 426 , Final verdict: Great-read
Imagine a machine the size of a double-decker bus. It costs more than a Boeing 787, is built from over 100,000 precision-engineered parts, and can only be put together in a room that’s 1,000 times cleaner than a hospital operating room.
This machine uses powerful lasers to shoot tiny droplets of molten tin, creating a rare kind of ultraviolet light. That light is then used to carve incredibly small patterns onto silicon wafers—the basic building blocks of the chips that power everything from your phone to your car to advanced fighter jets.
This technology isn’t made in Silicon Valley, Japan, or South Korea. It’s made by ASML, a quiet but essential Dutch company that most people outside the chip industry have never heard of.
In Focus: How ASML Became the World’s Most Important Chip Company, Dutch journalist Marc Hijink tells the story of this remarkable company. What starts as a local spin-off from Philips in a small Dutch town called Veldhoven turns into a story about how the world’s most advanced technology is built—and how global power now depends on it.
From Underdog to the Center of the Tech World
Founded in 1984, ASML was a long shot from the start. Few in the industry believed it could succeed, especially against giants like Nikon and Canon. But ASML had two things going for it: deep technical ambition and a willingness to play the long game.
Hijink explains how ASML bet everything on a new way of making chips—and it worked. Thanks to key partnerships with companies like Intel, Samsung, and especially Taiwan’s TSMC, ASML helped push Moore’s Law forward, making chips smaller, faster, and more powerful.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book is ASML’s partnership with the German optics company Zeiss. To make chips smaller, the machines that etch them need to “see” and work at a scale smaller than light itself. That requires lenses and mirrors with near-perfect precision—surfaces so smooth that if they were stretched to the size of Germany, the biggest bump would be just a few millimeters high.
Zeiss makes those lenses and mirrors. Without them, ASML’s machines wouldn’t work. Building them is so hard and so expensive that no other company even tries. It’s a perfect example of the quiet, almost invisible brilliance that sits behind every chip in your phone.
Patent Wars and Smart Negotiations
Hijink also dives into one of the more colorful chapters in ASML’s history: its battle with Nikon over patents. Nikon sued ASML over what it claimed were infringements, sparking a long legal war. ASML, together with Zeiss, came up with a clever counterattack. They bought patents from the digital photography space—reportedly spending €10 million—and even worked with Zeiss to launch their own digital camera, the Zeiss ZX1.
It was never about the camera—it was about building leverage in court and showing they could make strong counterclaims. The strategy worked, and the lawsuit was eventually settled. It’s a great example of ASML’s mix of technical genius and quiet cunning.
At the heart of ASML’s rise is the long-running partnership between CEO Peter Wennink and CTO Martin van den Brink (both departed at the end of 2024). Wennink, a former accountant, brought financial stability and strategic focus. Van den Brink, one of ASML’s first engineers, was the technical mind who pushed the company to tackle harder and harder problems.
Together, they created a rare balance of business discipline and engineering ambition. Hijink makes it clear: without their trust, alignment, and shared vision, ASML wouldn’t be what it is today. They shaped the culture, the pace, and the long-term strategy that made ASML the undisputed leader in its field.
Then there's trade wars. ASML’s machines aren’t just tools—they're key pieces in a global power struggle.
Because of how critical they are to making the most advanced chips, governments are now treating them as strategic assets. The U.S. has placed strict export controls on ASML’s most advanced machines, especially the ones that use EUV light. As a result, ASML is banned from selling these systems to China. Even slightly older models are now subject to Dutch government approval before they can be shipped.
One of the things that makes Focus stand out is that it tells a story rarely heard: a European tech company that won big. ASML built the most complex machine on earth. And it's also a rare case of industrial policy working well. The Dutch government and the EU supported ASML with hundreds of millions of euros in subsidies during its early, unprofitable years. Without that support, the company may never have survived.
Bottom Line
It’s rare to find a great book about the history of a European tech company. That privilege is normally reserved to the companies born on the other side of the Atlantic. Focus is that book. A deep dive into a company most people don’t know, but whose work touches every part of modern life.
Whether you’re into technology, business strategy, or geopolitics, you’ll come away with a better understanding of why the chips inside your phone—and the machines that make them—matter so much. It’s also a powerful case study in long-term thinking, global cooperation, and the quiet brilliance of European engineering.
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