ASML acquires German optics specialist Berliner Glas

ASML is acquiring all shares of Berliner Glas Group, a privately held manufacturer of ceramic and optical modules. With this transaction, ASML says it will acquire technical capabilities that are important to support the future roadmap for its EUV and DUV products. ASML will also acquire business units that operate in other markets, but it will continue to serve other customers. The management team of Berliner Glas will stay on.

Acquiring a supplier is not ASML’s typical modus operandi: it prefers to outsource as much as possible. Notable exceptions have been Cymer, which was acquired in 2012 after ASML was dissatisfied with progress in EUV source development (link in Dutch), and HMI, which was acquired in 2016 because a lucrative synergy could only be monetized through a merger (link Dutch).

A spokesperson did not want to clarify why ASML chose to divert from its usual supply model in case of Berliner Glas. She denied it was because the German company was in any sort of financial trouble, however.