English 
Spanish 
4 min read 
0 comments 
Philips was once the world's second-largest semiconductor manufacturer, but it has lost ground while ASML, a company it helped found, has become the undisputed leader in the production of lithography machines. How did one of the tech giants fall and lose a billion-dollar market?
Just imagine: you create a market, invest in it for decades, help develop the technology that will revolutionize everything, and then, in the end, you get left behind and see another company dominate the game. Well, that's exactly what happened with Philips.
In the 1970s, the Dutch company was simply the second largest semiconductor manufacturer on the planet, behind only Texas Instruments. And it wasn't just any company: Philips was a powerhouse, with over 400 employees around the world. But as chip technology evolved, it couldn't keep up and was left out of its own market.
The most curious thing? It was Philips itself that helped found ASML, a company that is now essential for manufacturing the most advanced chips in the world. So how did Philips lose everything? Let's understand this story.
- Company disappears during the night and leaves 45 employees without answers, equipment disappears, owner disappears with his family, and the case ends up in the Labor Prosecutor's Office
- Tarcísio de Freitas says that residents of this region may be exempt from paying tolls
- Generation Y (1980 to 1996) is giving up on hard work and high pay, and the reason is surprising
- Lack of labor reaches the countryside and becomes one of the main limitations for the development and greater efficiency of agribusiness in Brazil
Philips' dominance in the semiconductor sector
If today we think of Philips as a brand of home appliances, lamps and medical equipment, in the past it was much more than that. In the 70s, the company was one of the biggest technological forces in the world.
In the Netherlands alone, there were 90 employees. Philips' portfolio included radios, televisions, home appliances and medical equipment. But the most impressive thing was that the company did everything in-house – from the design to the manufacturing of its products.
Pioneering in semiconductors
Philips' interest in semiconductors did not come overnight. Back in the 50s, the company had already realized that chips would be the future. That's why it invested heavily in creating research centers and formed partnerships with universities and technology laboratories.
And Philips didn't just make chips—it also created the very lithography machines used to produce them. That meant the company had full control over the process, something that few achieved at the time.
The result? By the 70s, Philips was already at the top of the market, behind only Texas Instruments. But the problem with being at the top is that if you don't keep innovating, the decline comes faster than you think.
The birth of ASML
In the 80s, the chip market was changing rapidly. Companies wanted smaller, faster, and more efficient chips. And to achieve this, lithography machines needed to evolve.
Philips knew it needed to update itself, but it didn’t want to face this challenge alone. So in 1984, it partnered with ASM International, another Dutch company specializing in semiconductors.
The idea was simple: Philips would contribute its expertise in optics and lithography, and ASM would contribute its knowledge in chip manufacturing. This merger gave rise to ASML (Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography), a company that would change the semiconductor industry forever.
Little did Philips know that years later ASML would become the world leader in lithography machines – and that it itself would fall behind.
Philips' decline in the chip sector
As ASML grew and became increasingly essential to the industry, Philips began to lose its competitive edge. The market changed, the challenges increased, and the company simply couldn’t keep up.
And it wasn't just a question of technology. According to experts, Philips was a very bureaucratic and rigid company, with difficulty in making quick decisions. This caused it to lose ground while other giants, such as Intel and Samsung, were advancing.
Biggest Mistake: Selling ASML Shares Too Early
If Philips had held on to its ASML stake, would the story have been different? Hard to say. The fact is that the company sold its shares too early, missing the chance to profit from ASML’s explosive growth.
Today, every major semiconductor manufacturer in the world – TSMC, Intel, Samsung, SK Hynix, among others – relies on ASML’s lithography machines to manufacture their chips.
And Philips? It was left out.
ASML: The giant that inherited Philips' legacy
If you're reading this on a smartphone, computer or tablet, you can bet the chips inside were manufactured using ASML machines.
Company is the only one in the world that produces machines EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography, a technology that allows the manufacture of today's most advanced chips.
Meanwhile, Philips… well, it has nothing to do with that market anymore.
