Bad News From The Tech World! Lithography Giant Founder Dies!

On the evening of June 11 local time, the lithography giant ASML, headquartered in the Netherlands, sent a message on the social platform to mourn the death of WimTroost, one of the founders of ASML.

In the best-selling technology book Lithography Giants: The Rise of ASML, a passage describes him as follows: "Trost saved the wafer stepper from the scrap heap. In the decades after the Second World War, if anyone was the face of Philips, it was him."Asml founder dies

The official Asmer account said: "One of our founding fathers, Wim Trost, has passed away. Trost was one of our founding fathers and CEO from 1987 to 1990, when ASML was struggling to win its first customer. Since his retirement, Trost has been a true ambassador for ASML and the high-tech industry. He has inspired generations to come. We thank Trost for his contributions to ASML's DNA and strong company culture, and his vision, leadership and perseverance have inspired generations to come." Our condolences go out to the Trost family."

According to media reports, Wim Trost died on Friday morning (June 8) at the age of 98.

1925 Wim Trost was born in The Hague, Netherlands. When he was 10 years old, the family moved to Bompujsdyk, a small village of 80 families on a dike in Zeeland province in the southwest of the Netherlands, with only one street and two farms. There, Trost's father and uncle inherited his grandfather's bakery and grocery store. Trost went to high school there, then to trade school. In September 1945, after young Trost had recovered from the war, his father gave the family's last $40 to send him to study physics at the Delft University of Technology.

During the post-war reconstruction, the Netherlands needed a large number of young engineers, and Trost was one of them. Philips extended several invitations to Trost. He visited Natlab and visited many departments of Philips. Mr Trost initially decided to work for Shell because he feared going to Philips as an ordinary employee. But when he heard that the oil company might send him to another country at any time, he gave up. He eventually joined Philips, earning $1,240 a year with an additional $50 bonus. In October 1967, Trost was appointed Chief Engineer and head of research and development at Philips.

Later, Trost became a developer of the Philips wafer stepper and was the only person to express research interest in the lithography machine at Philips management team meetings. In 1984, Philips and ASM formed the joint venture ASML. In 1987, when ASML was reeling without a leader, Trost, who had just retired from Philips for two years, decided to become ASML's CEO, and he led ASML through the 1988 crisis until he retired again in 1990.Asml is the world's largest lithographic machine leader

Asml, the largest company in the Netherlands and Europe's most valuable technology company, employs 40,000 people worldwide, 24,000 of whom work in the Netherlands. In the field of lithography, ASML is not only the largest manufacturer in the world, but also the only supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography.

Asml's share price has enjoyed a recent surge. As of June 12, 2024, ASML's share price has risen more than 37% this year, surpassing the market value of luxury goods giant LVMH and becoming the most valuable listed company in Europe.

As of June 12, ASML's US stock price was $1,036.01 / share, with a market value of $408.8 billion (equivalent to nearly 3 trillion yuan). LVMH Group has a market value of 366.7 billion euros ($394.6 billion), and AsML's market value is about $14.2 billion more than LVMH Group.