ASML solidifies position as #1 semiconductor equipment company in 2025 over Applied Materials

ASML has maintained its position as the #1 semiconductor equipment company in 2025 for the third year in a row, continuing the momentum built over its exceptional performance in recent years. The Information Network’s newly released report, Global Semiconductor Equipment: Markets, Market Shares, Market Forecasts, confirms ASML’s continued dominance in the global Wafer Fab Equipment (WFE) sector.

According to my analysis, ASML has outpaced Applied Materials and other competitors due to its unparalleled capabilities in advanced lithography. Its revenue growth of 47.6% in 2023 propelled ASML to the top in 2024, and the company’s strategic focus on EUV systems ensures its continued leadership in 2025, supported by an additional 21% growth.

ASML’s stronghold in advanced lithography—particularly through its leadership in EUV and the rollout of its High-NA EUV systems, which began shipping in meaningful volume in 2024—continues to be the central driver of its WFE market position. High-NA adoption provides chipmakers with a path to scaling into the 2nm and 1.4nm generations, reinforcing ASML’s indispensable role in advanced-node manufacturing.

Against this backdrop, competitors like Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, and KLA remain critical pillars of the semiconductor ecosystem. Yet their growth vectors are more closely tied to specific process steps—etch, deposition, inspection, and cleaning—whose revenue trajectories cannot match the gravitational pull of EUV.

The report also highlights a significant structural shift driven by rising domestic investment in China’s semiconductor industry. Due in part to the limited effectiveness of U.S. sanctions, Chinese equipment makers such as Naura Technology and AMEC have moved into the global top-10 for the first time, buoyed by strong spending on domestic wafer-fab capacity.

-- Dr. Robert Castellano, Semiconductor Deep Dive, USA.