ASML, SVG Merger Complete

Electronic News, June 4, 2001

ASM Lithography Holding N.V. of Veldhoven, Netherlands, last month completed its previously announced acquisition of Silicon Valley Group Inc. of San Jose. ASML (nasdaq: ASML) is the second largest lithography company, behind Japan's Nikon Corp., with a 30 percent to 35 percent share of the market worldwide. SVG, ranked No. 4, will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary. The merger provides ASML with a vital resource within the United States.

Previously, SVG said the merger was necessary to raise the capital needed to bring extended ultraviolet lithography (EUV) to production by the middle of the decade. EUV is the next-generation technology that many chipmakers, particularly those in the United States, believe will become the successor to deep-ultraviolet lithography. Although not a formal condition of the merger's federal approval, ASML said it may shed SVG's lens polishing subsidiary Tinsley Laboratories.

Originally announced in October, the merger was stalled because of concerns for national security. Opponents of the merger said critical lithography technology shouldn't be allowed to leave U.S. soil. Although it currently has no federal defense contracts, in the past Tinsley Labs made lenses for various military applications. Opponents to the merger noted that both ASML and its lens supplier, German company Carl Zeiss, sell tools and materials to overseas semiconductor manufacturers.