4-minute read - by Kate Brunton, January 31, 2023
Every day, more than 38,000 ASML employees around the globe come to work or sign on remotely with the reassuring knowledge that their jobs have real positive impact on the world. Though we’re diverse, we’re connected by our purpose and values. Together, we challenge, collaborate and care, pushing technology to new limits to unlock the potential of people and society.
It’s amazing to think that just about everyone has benefitted from the technology we enable here at ASML. From internet connectivity to advances in medical imaging devices, modern society relies on semiconductors to drive progress and solve some of its toughest challenges, now and in the future.
Small chips, big impact
The technology we work on at ASML is highly complex, and yet it makes up just one crucial part of the six key steps in semiconductor manufacturing. The EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography, DUV (deep ultraviolet) lithography and metrology & inspection systems we make are some of the most advanced chipmaking equipment in the world. They play a vital role in driving advances in semiconductors that, in turn, enable technology that helps move society forward.
Our unique contribution
It’s this opportunity to make a real difference that drives every employee who works here, from engineer to assistant, HR manager to CEO. And it’s why our new ‘We are ASML’ video follows the stories of four employees – Rakesh, Ingrid, Janine and Gidion – whose lives have been changed for the better by technological advancements made possible by ASML.
Staying connected
The COVID-19 pandemic prevented IT architect Rakesh Sahoo from being able to visit his parents in Hyderabad, India. Thankfully, technological progress meant he could stay connected to them and support them remotely. Rakesh was able to video chat with his mom and dad daily, stay up to date on their health through conference calls with doctors and specialists, and even set up solar panels on their house and monitor their energy production from his home in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Rakesh explains: “During the pandemic, I somehow felt that I was more connected with them every day than in the previous 20 years spent living away from them. He continues: “I feel proud that directly or indirectly I have played my role in making sure the world remains connected during these troubling pandemic years.”
“I feel proud that directly or indirectly I have played my role in making sure the world remains connected during these troubling pandemic years.”
Promoting inclusion and accessibility
Meet Ingrid. Ingrid Janssen-Minnaert is a DUV industrialization engineering manager who has worked at ASML for 25 years and is the proud mom of a 15-year-old daughter, Ilse, with severe dyslexia. Ilse’s experience of learning to read – and her self-esteem – has been improved thanks to a pen reader, a relatively recent invention that scans the text on a page and reads it out loud.
“Making chips smaller and smaller makes it possible for products like this pen reader to become easier to handle and access,” explains Ingrid. “Instead of needing a scanner and a PC, my daughter now carries her pen reader with her everywhere she goes. It makes me feel so happy when she tells me that she’s happy to have been born in this age and not long ago when no solutions like this were available.”
Dyslexia and other forms of neurodivergence such as autism and ADHD are common at ASML, and we rely on neurodiversity for innovation. Our CTO Martin van den Brink even has dyslexia (read the story here).
Helping us stay healthy and happy
Next in the video is Janine Linders, a senior management assistant at ASML. She credits technology with helping her to develop healthy habits and keep track of her goals (via her Fitbit smartwatch) and stay in touch with her children as a co-parent. Technology enabled by ASML helps her day to day but has also been a consistent factor throughout her life. Her father is a long-time heart patient who underwent open heart surgery when she was a little girl, and she is thankful for advances in technology that mean more and more treatments are available to him. Janine reflects: “These are the moments that really matter. That’s why I am proud of ASML and the fact that I can be a part of it. Together, we contribute to the bigger picture and make a real impact on technological progress.”
“Together, we contribute to the bigger picture and make a real impact on technological progress.”
She continues: “I’m glad that the organization also motivates and supports me to work on my personal development and offers me opportunities to grow. Happiness at work and a good work−life balance are extremely important.” (Learn more about well-being at ASML.)
Improving life expectancy around the world
Making his appearance in the video in a cleanroom suit is Gidion Vitalis Simbo, an EUV system qualification engineer working inside our factory in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. He believes that the medical technology advancements that ASML helps drive have given his family and people in his home community in South Africa a chance to live longer, healthier lives. “These important medical technologies have been facilitated by advanced processors designed by powerful ASML machines,” he says. He cites AI-based disease diagnosis, intelligent life support devices, robotic surgery assistants and more as examples of healthcare innovations.
He concludes: “I’m proud to work at ASML because I get to be part of the team that is enabling these sophisticated technologies that are saving lives improving the quality of lives, and raising life expectancy globally.”
Changing the world, one nanometer at a time
“Rakesh, Ingrid, Janine and Gidion are representative of so many of us at ASML,” explains Eliza Menzel, head of creative content at ASML and driving force behind the ‘We are ASML’ video project. “None of us at ASML knows exactly how our technology will be used for good. We only know that it will be. I hope that this video helps demystify what ASML does, who we are and why we’re proud to work here.”
“None of us at ASML knows exactly how our technology will be used for good. We only know that it will be.”
Janine adds: “We really do it together as a team. There is a good energy within ASML – I immediately felt that when I joined. I feel the passion, drive and positivity. I’m excited to experience what we are capable of together. Every ASML employee has a unique story that’s worth sharing and we will continue to tell our stories because we are what makes ASML ASML.”
