Market Share
100% EUV
Key Product
EUV & DUV lithography systems
Bottleneck Status
18–24 month lead time
Full briefing▼ Expand
ASML is the world's only manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines — the tools that print the circuit patterns on leading-edge chips. Without EUV, it is physically impossible to manufacture chips at 7nm or below at commercial scale. Every advanced chip from TSMC, Samsung, and Intel Foundry depends on ASML's systems. The company holds a complete monopoly on EUV and controls roughly 85% of the broader DUV lithography market. Lead times run 12–18 months per machine, and each standard EUV system (NXE) costs approximately $180–200 million, while the newer High-NA EUV (EXE) runs approximately $380 million. Export controls imposed by the US, Netherlands, and Japan have blocked ASML from shipping EUV — and since late 2023, the most advanced DUV — machines to China, making ASML a central node in the geopolitical semiconductor rivalry.
Connected companies
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Critical path — raw silicon to deployment
The tightest single-source dependencies, in order.
RAW MATERIALS
Rare Earths (CN)
Neodymium, Dysprosium refined oxides
RAW MATERIALS
High-Purity Quartz (US)
Fused silica blanks and quartz process tubes
RAW MATERIALS
Gallium (CN)
Refined gallium metal (≥99.99% purity)
EQUIPMENT
ASML
EUV & DUV lithography systems
FOUNDRIES
TSMC
CoWoS advanced packaging, N3/N2 logic
MEMORY (HBM)
Micron
HBM3E, DDR5, NAND
Export controls touching ASML
China Gallium & Germanium Export Controls (Aug 2023)
China's Ministry of Commerce and Customs implemented export licensing requirements for gallium and germanium products, effective August 1, 2023. The controls cover 8 gallium-related items (including gallium metal, gallium nitride, and gallium arsenide) and 6 germanium-related items (including germanium metal, germanium dioxide, and germanium epitaxial growth wafers). Exporters must apply to the Ministry of Commerce for licenses, which are reviewed for national security and non-proliferation considerations. China produces approximately 80% of the world's gallium and 60% of its germanium, making these controls a direct leverage point over semiconductor and compound-semiconductor supply chains globally.
▲ 13 companies affected
Netherlands EUV & DUV Lithography Export Control (Sep 2023)
The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs required ASML to obtain export licenses for its deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems and extended the existing ban on EUV systems. ASML is the sole manufacturer of EUV machines globally; the controls prevent China from acquiring the equipment needed to produce chips at leading-edge nodes. The policy was developed in alignment with U.S. and Japanese export control frameworks.
▲ 12 companies affected
U.S.–Netherlands–Japan Trilateral Chip Equipment Alignment (Jan 2023)
Following extensive diplomatic negotiations, the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan reached an informal multilateral agreement — announced on or around January 27, 2023 — to align their semiconductor equipment export control frameworks. The Netherlands subsequently imposed DUV licensing requirements on ASML (effective September 2023), and Japan expanded its controls to 23 categories of advanced fab equipment (effective July 2023). The trilateral alignment effectively closed the most significant loopholes in restricting China's access to the equipment needed for leading-edge chip production, since restrictions by any single ally could previously be circumvented through the others.
▲ 12 companies affected
QWho supplies ASML?
ASML relies on 4 upstream suppliers across the AI chip supply chain.
Rare Earths (CN) (Dominant refined rare-earth supplier (Nd, Dy for precision equipment magnets)), Neon Gas (High-Purity) (High-purity neon for excimer laser gas mixtures in DUV lithography), High-Purity Quartz (US) (Unique ultra-pure quartz deposits for fused-silica optics and quartz process chambers), Gallium (CN) (Dominant gallium producer for compound semiconductors and RF chips).
QWhat does ASML make?
Sole maker of EUV lithography machines
Key products EUV & DUV lithography systems
▲18–24 month lead time