The story
Veeco was incorporated in 1945 by two scientists, Frank Raible and Al Nerken, who created the helium leak detector. The company's name "Veeco" stood for Vacuum Electronic Equipment Company. In the 1960s, the original Veeco merged with Lambda, a manufacturer of power supplies, and in the late 1980s, was purchased by British company Unitech.
In 1990, Edward H. Braun, then COO of Veeco, and a group of senior company executives purchased Veeco's instrument business from Unitech in a management buyout. The company again used the Veeco Instruments trade name and completed an initial public offering on the Nasdaq National Market in 1994 (NASDAQ: VECO). The IPO netted the company $27.5 million.
Since going public in 1994, Veeco has completed more than a dozen acquisitions. The company purchased Ion Tech Inc. in 1999 and entered the optical coating market.
In 2001, Veeco purchased Applied EPI, its present-day Molecular Beam Epitaxy group that currently maintains a leadership position in MBE technology worldwide.
In 2003, Veeco purchased Emcore, paving the way for its unique metal organic chemical vapor deposition technologies in the advanced LED, Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and photonics markets.
From 2007 to 2018, Veeco invested heavily in ALD research, publishing numerous papers on the topic.
In July 2007, Braun, then 68, became chairman of the board of Veeco, with John R. Peeler, 52, joining the company as chief executive officer. Peeler was formerly president of JDSU's Communications Test and Measurement Division
In 2008, Veeco settled a patent litigation it had brought against Asylum Research Corporation in 2003.
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In October 2010, Veeco announced the sale of its metrology business to Bruker Corporation in a cash deal for $229.4 million.
In May 2012, John Peeler became chairman of the board of Veeco.
In 2014, Veeco purchased Solid State Equipment Co., expanding its portfolio of solvent-based wet etch and clean technologies for semiconductor and compound semiconductor markets.
On May 26, 2017, Veeco acquired front-end semiconductor process control equipment manufacturer Ultratech to expand into the advanced packaging market. This added to the portfolio advanced packaging lithography, laser spike annealing and 3D wafer inspection technology used in high volume manufacturing of logic and memory devices. Via the Ultratech purchase, Veeco also acquired Cambridge Nanotech, a Boston-based innovator in atomic layer deposition technology.
In October 2018, Bill Miller was named CEO. Miller previously served as president and has led several growth initiatives within Veeco's business units and operations teams worldwide.
In May 2020, changes were made to governance to bring more gender diversity to the board of directors. John Peeler, chairman and former CEO, retired from the board. Richard D’Amore, general partner of North Bridge Venture Partners and previously lead independent director, was appointed as chairman; and Mary Jane Raymond, chief financial officer and treasurer of II-VI Inc., was appointed to the Audit Committee.
In 2020, Veeco succeeded in strengthening its profitability by optimizing R&D and extending core technologies into semiconductor and compound semiconductor markets.
In 2021, Veeco shipped its first LSA101 Laser Spike Annealing System from its facility in San Jose, California facility to a leading semiconductor manufacturer.
In February 2023, it was announced Veeco had acquired the Lund-headquartered manufacturer of CVD epitaxy systems - which enables advanced SiC applications in the electric vehicle market, Epiluvac AB.
In October 2025, Veeco and Axcelis Technologies agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $4.4 billion, with Axcelis shareholders owning about 58% and Veeco shareholders about 42% of the combined company.
From Wikipedia’s article on Veeco, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7