ASM International NV designs, manufactures and sell equipment, and services to their customers for the production of semiconductor devices, or integrated circuits. It operates through the Front-end and Back-end segment. The Front-end segment manufactures and sells equipment used in wafer processing, encompassing the fabrication steps in which silicon wafers are layered with semiconductor devices. The Back-end segment manufactures and sells equipment and materials used in assembly and packaging, encompassing the processes in which silicon wafers are separated into individual circuits and subsequently assembled, packaged and tested. The company was founded by Arthur H. del Prado on march 4, 1968 and is headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands.