ASML boss Wennink to retire in April; veteran Fouquet to step up (updated)
30/11/2023 09:23
(Adds detail and background, paragraphs 5 and 7-9)
By Toby Sterling and Bart H. Meijer
AMSTERDAM, Nov 30 (Reuters) - ASML ASML.AS Chief
Executive Peter Wennink will retire at the end of his term next
April to be replaced by company veteran Christophe Fouquet, the
Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer said on Thursday.
Wennink, 66, has overseen a period of blistering growth for
ASML since being elevated to CEO from finance chief in 2013,
becoming Europe's largest technology company with market
capitalisation of 250 billion euros ($274 billion) as its stock
rose by more than 1,000%.
While Wennink held top jobs at ASML the company came to
dominate the lithography market, the segment of the chipmaking
industry that uses light to help print chip circuitry, leaving
behind Japanese rivals Nikon 7731.T and Canon 7751.T .
Fouquet, a French national who has been with ASML for 15
years, has previously overseen its extreme ultraviolet (EUV)
product lines, which now account for about half of the company's
sales. EUV technology was developed and commercialised by ASML,
and is used by only a handful of manufacturers to make advanced
chips.
EUV machines are the size of a school bus and cost $200
million each.
Customers include Taiwan's TSMC 2330.TW , Samsung
005930.KS , Intel INTC.O and memory chip manufacturers Micron
MU.O and SK Hynix 000660.KS .
At a conference in May, Fouquet said he sees another decade
of growth ahead for ASML, with the company using a single-base
platform for two more generations of EUV machines under
development, increasing quality and reducing costs for
customers.
"We believe this (a single-base EUV platform) is something
we can do in the next few years," he said.
Fouquet worked at U.S. chip equipment companies Applied
Materials AMAT.O and KLA KLAC.O before joining ASML in 2008.
"Christophe's career is a clear example of natural evolution
throughout the company," Wennink said. "He knows all our
customers, suppliers, people, shareholders."
($1 = 0.9121 euros)
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Toby Sterling
Editing by Sonia Cheema and David Goodman)
((Bart.Meijer@thomsonreuters.com;))