ASM (Advanced Semiconductor Materials) was founded in the Netherlands in 1968, at the very start of the semiconductor industry. Founder Arthur del Prado (1931-2016) was our CEO until 2008. He was succeeded by his son, Chuck del Prado, who was CEO until 2020. In May 2024, Hichem M'Saad, our former CTO, was appointed to CEO.
ASM initially entered the furnace deposition market, and started producing these systems in the Netherlands in the early 1970s. As a pioneer of technology advancement and globalization, the company also began launching new companies around the world.
In the mid 1970s, ASMPT was founded in Hong Kong, becoming a market leader in back-end semiconductor assembly and packaging equipment. ASM divested its majority share in ASMPT in 2013, but maintains a minority share today.
ASM America was also founded in the 1970s, laying the foundation of our current epitaxy technology. In the early 1980s, ASM Japan was started, the basis for today’s plasma CVD products. This was followed by ASM’s participation in a joint venture with Philips in the mid-1980s to develop lithography technology, known today as ASML. ASM sold its share in ASML in 1988.
Since the early 1990s, ASM has focused its efforts on deposition. This includes investing in the novel technique of ALD (atomic layer deposition), leading to acquisitions of ASM Microchemistry in 1999, and ASM Genitech Korea in 2004.
In 2007, our Pulsar ALD tool became the first system used in the high-volume manufacturing of devices using a new hafnium-based high-k gate dielectric material. Since that breakthrough, ASM has continued to strengthen its footprint with leading edge customers. We have brought novel deposition processes to the market to realize 3D device architectures that can only be enabled by ALD.
Over the past five years, we have also been growing our position in the Epi market. In 2022 we acquired LPE, located in Italy and a solid player in the relatively small but fast-growing silicon carbide epitaxy equipment market, driven by the rapidly expanding market for electric vehicles.
The combination of ASM’s continuous focus on innovation with its global entrepreneurship has led to ASM’s unique structure, with centers of excellence close to customers around the world, and centralized manufacturing in Singapore.
