When Christophe Fouquet takes over as CEO of Europe’s most valuable tech company on April 24, he will inherit not only a single firm, but also the

Semiconductor Giant ASML Has a New Boss, and a Big Problem

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2024-04-26 17:30:02

When Christophe Fouquet takes over as CEO of Europe’s most valuable tech company on April 24, he will inherit not only a single firm, but also the leadership of an entire industry responsible for a critical ingredient of modern life: chips.

Netherlands-based ASML makes one of the world’s most complex machines, used by chipmakers like Intel and TSMC to manufacture the advanced microchips required for the functioning of today’s smartphones, cars, and data centers. Fouquet will take over leadership of ASML’s 40,000 or so employees and manage a sprawling network of more than 5,000 specialist suppliers, such as Germany’s Zeiss and Trumpf, whose lasers and mirrors enable ASML’s machines to project minuscule patterns onto microchips small enough to be measured in nanometers (one millionth of a millimeter).

Fouquet, a 16-year ASML veteran, will have to maintain the company’s technological edge. Its most advanced machines have no competitors. “I have worked with Christophe for years, and look forward to continuing our great relationship as we deliver leading-edge lithography solutions,” says Ryan Russell, corporate vice president for Foundry Lithography Technology Development at Intel. But Fouquet, who has sold himself publicly as the continuity candidate, will also have to steer ASML through an escalating geopolitical power struggle revolving around chips.