ASML 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 and Canon.
Fouquet, 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 customers include Taiwan's TSMC, Samsung, Intel and memory chip manufacturers Micron and SK Hynix.
"Christophe's career is a clear example of natural evolution throughout the company," Wennink said. "He knows all our customers, suppliers, people, shareholders.
"He's a known entity. We have had a very fruitful collaboration and we share the same values. He has the same 'ASML DNA'."
The company also announced that Chief Technology Officer Martin van den Brink will retire on April 24. The company did not name a successor but said it would appoint Jim Koonmen as Chief Customer Officer, a new position on the six-person management board.