CAT vs ASML Comparison

Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. Its reporting segments are construction, resource, energy, and transportation. Market share approaches 20% across many products. Caterpillar operates a captive finance subsidiary to facilitate sales. The firm has a global reach that is approximately evenly balanced between the US and the rest of the world. Construction skews more domestic, while the other divisions are more geographically diversified. An independent network of over 150 dealers operates approximately 2,800 facilities, giving Caterpillar reach into about 190 countries for sales and support services.

ASML is the market leader in lithography systems for manufacturing semiconductors. Lithography is the process in which a light source is used to expose circuit patterns from a photo mask onto a semiconductor wafer. Lithography allows chipmakers to increase the number of transistors on the same area of silicon, with lithography historically representing a high portion of the cost of making cutting-edge chips. ASML outsources the manufacturing of most of its parts, acting like an assembler. ASML's largest clients are TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.