Marc Hijink | 'Focus'... ASML, The Dutch Behemoth

✍︎: The Curious Worldview Newsletter - the ultimate compliment to the podcast...

• Jos Benschop – SVP Science ASML - Episode #56
• Chris Miller – Chip War - Episode #81
• ASML Bloody Good Business

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ASML is certainly among the most critical businesses to the modern economy. They make the machines that make the microchips which makes modernity go round. 

You’ve likely heard of TSMC, the Taiwanese behemoth at the centre of Chinese geopolitics and how these are in fact the guys that make these amazing microchips. That is true! But they make them on ASML machines, and that’s the critical point to take home. The insane complexity of ASML’s EUV machine is impossible to fully appreciate. Jos Benschop, ASMLS senior vice president of Technology he makes the claim that ASML’s EUV machine is the most complex machine ever made by man.

When words are overused they lose their meaning, but truly ASML’s EUV machine is by definition, unbelievable.

The CTO Martin Van De Brink has recently retired from ASML – and his cultural legacy really forms the narrative for Marc’s Book – with plenty of fun anecdotes.

Marc Hijink is the guest on this episode, he is a Dutch journalist and tech reporter for Handelsblad and recently went down a three year journey with unparalleled access to ASML and produced a wonderful history of this phenomenal company. 

• 00:00 – Who Is Marc Hijink & ASML
• 02:38 – Writing ‘Focus’ A Dream Project
• 07:38 – ASML Origins & Culture
• 17:23 – Culture & Martin Van De Brink
• 24:35 – The Geopolitics Of ASML
• 26:58 – Complexity Of The EUV Machine & ASML’s Appetite For Risk
• 44:55 – What About The Software? + Recruitment Against Meta, Google, OpenAI
• 50:13 – Growing At 800 Employees A Month
• 55:28 – Fragility Of ASML’s Client Base
• 57:17 – Focus
• 58:38 – Serendipity In ASML & Marc’s Life

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