ASM International

ASM (Advanced Semiconductor Materials) was founded in the Netherlands in 1968, at the very start of the semiconductor industry. ASM initially entered the furnace deposition market, and started producing these systems in the Netherlands in the early 1970s. 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.