Does anybody else get confused between ASM and ASML? Can anybody explain the difference between the two?
From what I gathered, both are Dutch companies in the semiconductor industry but are focused on different areas of the manufacturing process. ASM (International) provides materials used in front-end manufacturing. ASML does so with photolithography equipment (it’s described as a critical step in making semiconductors). I’m not nearly a specialist at this; I’m just paraphrasing what I read, but there is quite a bit of info out there on both companies.
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I know ASML but only just realised that there are two separate companies and it’s just rather confusing that they have essentially the same name (albeit one is ASM International as you say). Also at first glance the share charts are close enough to confuse you further. However, they do seem to be fairly different in size but clearly have very closely related businesses (semiconductor materials and processing/production equipment) so easy to initially just confuse them.
Thanks for the help
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No problem. There are surely people on this forum who are much more knowledgeable about the two companies and the sector, so maybe someone will contribute more (some Dutch friends are also pretty active).
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ASM and ASML were once the same company before the two sections of the company split decades ago. They’re most certainly different companies now though. Your best bet is looking at Wiki history of ASM. Then understanding the companies product line to understand how they are different
Thanks @AJB0904 I had a look at the wikipedia pages but like a lot of companies (certainly tech companies) there has been a lot of corporate actions so its not always very clear