An overview of industrial applications of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is given. The first part describes possible applications for the fabrication of semiconductor devices by SPM-methods and the use of SPM-based techniques for an ultra high density storage (UHDS) device. The second part shows the ability of SPMs as a characterization tool for integrated circuits (ICs). They can be used in defect analysis, process characterization, and monitoring. And they offer the measurement of each significant value with a spatial dimension of less than 100 nm. So the SPM is useful for a fab today, and irreplaceable for a fab in the future.