While companies and policymakers today are seeking technological advantage - from AI and semiconductors to deep tech - the story of ASML demonstrates that technological breakthroughs alone are not enough. Sustainable success emerges from the interplay between technology, organization, and ecosystem: from decades of building knowledge, partnerships, organizational capabilities, and the ability to make strategic choices time and again in an uncertain world. At a time when Europe is searching for new engines of innovation and competitiveness, ASML offers one of the few examples of a company that successfully built a global technological leadership position from within Europe.
Drawing on more than a decade of research, extensive interviews, and historical sources, Susanne van der Velden and Mohammad Nasiri reconstruct how ASML evolved from an underdog into one of the most influential players in the global semiconductor industry. The result is an in-depth analysis of the decisions, dilemmas, and breakthroughs required to build and grow a successful technology company over several decades.
ASML’s rise is often viewed as a story about technology, semiconductors, or geopolitics. This book takes a different perspective. It examines the strategic choices behind the company’s success: experimentation and staged investment under uncertainty, collaboration across technological ecosystems, long-term knowledge and capability building, and strong leadership required to stay the course in an industry that is constantly evolving. As such, Lessons Learned from ASML is relevant not only to the high-tech sector, but also to entrepreneurs, executives, policymakers, and organizations facing the same question today: how do you build sustainable innovation capacity in a world where uncertainty is the only constant? Rather than offering a recipe for success, the book provides a framework for thinking about how organizations can innovate, adapt, and grow when outcomes are uncertain and technological trajectories remain unclear.
“Few investors would bet their money on this venture today. The story of ASML is therefore not a recipe that can be easily copied by other high-tech start-ups. However, a lot can be learned from looking at what happened.”
— Gjalt Smit, ASML’s first CEO
Book launch: Tuesday, June 30, at Mikrocentrum in Veldhoven.
For more information: cami.vanstapel@lannoocampus.be.
