Focus: The ASML way - Inside the power struggle over the most complex machine on earth

New: third, updated English edition (November 2025)

'A fabulous look at the world's most indispensable machines and the most vital company you've never heard of.' - Ben Cohen, Wall Street Journal

‘Marc Hijink provides an unparalleled analysis of ASML’s extraordinary rise.’ – Chris Miller, author of Chip war.

For decades the most valuable technology company in Europe operated in the shadows. The chips manufactured by its machines, power our smartphones and AI assistants, make our coffee and drive our cars and even guide cruise missiles. In fact, roughly 90% of all chips worldwide are made with ASML’s machines. In recent years, the Dutch manufacturing company has found itself in the spotlight, at the centre of a geopolitical storm between the United States, China and Europe.

In Focus – The ASML way, journalist Marc Hijink brings us a unique insider portrait of this global giant. Hijink not only details the company’s meteoric rise from a quiet town in the Netherlands to a powerful, global monopoly position, he also makes accessible the unbelievably complex technology that has been the key to ASML’s success. It’s lithography machines, which spit out millions of chips around the clock, work to an accuracy of within a few atoms.

China is trying to copy the ASML technology while investing billions in its own chip-manufacturing programs to rival that of Taiwan. The US, in turn, seems to have the Dutch government on their side as they try and resuscitate their own chip manufacturing industry amid trade and cyber-warfare with China. Behind all the mind-blowing tech, Hijink discovers, ASML is a company fighting its own demons, scrambling to keep up with its success and an increasing number of security threats.

This is the intimate story of the people and culture behind a business now caught in a diplomatic struggle for global might.

‘The tech cold war most complicated machine’ – The New York Times
‘The most obscure company in the world’ – BBC

“A wonderfully engaging story about the intrigues and acquisitions that turned ASML into a global monopolist. A subject as dizzying as it is important, which Hijink manages to make accessible thanks to his years of reporting on ASML.”
De Volkskrant

“Hijink has written a wonderful portrait full of intriguing angles about a company that is more than worthy of such an approach.”
Innovation origins

“An award-deserving, wonderfully written page-turner about the fascinating biography of ASML. A must-read for anyone, and especially for computer scientists and engineers, managers and entrepreneurs, and politicians and R&D funders.”
Maria Keet, associate professor Computer Science, University of Cape Town

“A detailed insider account of the world’s biggest system integrator on steroids who has the relentlessness and mettle to push the laws of physics to new frontiers. An enlightening read for anyone interested in understanding the technological, economic, and political forces shaping the future of semiconductors and their ubiquitous presence in our daily lives.”
The Geostrata

“It’s rare to find a great book about the history of a European tech company. That privilege is normally reserved to the companies born on the other side of the Atlantic. Focus is that book. A deep dive into a company most people don’t know, but whose work touches every part of modern life.”
Henrique Cruz, Betaglyph