Samsung and TSMC Commit to ASML's $400 Million High NA EUV Lithography for AI Chip Production

TSMC, Samsung commit to ASML's newest chipmaking tools as AI drives demand

* TSMC and Samsung committed to using ASML's High NA EUV lithography machines as demand for more advanced chips used in AI grows. * Samsung plans to use High NA EUV in 2028 for DRAM memory manufacturing, while TSMC expects to adopt the technology in 2030 for advanced chips. * ASML's High NA EUV machines cost around $400 million, and investors see broader adoption of the technology as important to the chip equipment maker's future growth. In this article * ASML * TSM Follow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT ASML's Assia Haddou shows CNBC's Katie Tarasov a High NA chipmaking machine in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on April 24, 2025. Magdalena Petrova Samsung and TSMC, the world's two biggest chipmakers, have committed to using ASML's High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, as demand grows for more advanced chips. ASML's EUV lithography machines are critical tools that are used to print circuit patterns onto silicon wafers during the chipmaking process. The High NA machines can print smaller and more intricate patterns. This tool can cost around $400 million. Samsung, one of the world's biggest memory chipmakers, said it would use ASML's machines to produce DRAM, a key type of memory, from 2028. Samsung said it would adopt the technology in 2030, adding that it would "extend the DRAM scaling roadmap" and make the process more efficient. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon ASML stock over the last 12 months. TSMC said it would use ASML's tools for advanced chips and expects use of High NA machines to rise, "driven primarily by the increasingly complex transistor architectures required for AI applications." Investors see the success of High NA EUV machines as key to ASML's future growth as the stock looks to extend a 120% run over the last year. Barclays said in a note on Tuesday that the announcements "should provide more visibility on adoption which has been a key debate," adding that the news is "a positive." Shares of Amsterdam-listed ASML were flat-to-lower in early trading on Tuesday. Samsung and TSMC join Intel as customers for ASML's High NA machines. In July, ASML said that Intel is using the High NA EUV technology for advanced chip manufacturing. ASML has not given a recent forecast on how many of the machines it expects to sell but has said that it will add about 30% capacity for EUV in total in 2027. The analysts at Barclays said the announcements give ASML more visibility into planning. "We see ASML with a significant decision ahead on whether to further expand EUV capacity than the recently expanded targets it has already given. Demand is clearly strong," Barclays said. TSMC and Samsung will also join ASML in an industry initiative to advance next-generation 12-inch photmask technology, upgrading from the current 6-inch format. A key part of chip production, photomasks are effectively the stencils used to print the patterns on the wafers. ASML said the benefits of a larger photomask include better productivity and lower chipmaking costs. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

TSMC backs ASML's plan for bigger masks so its newest machines can print AI's biggest chips

ASML's most advanced lithography machines cannot print the largest chips the AI industry currently builds. The company now has a plan to change that, and it has brought TSMC in on it. The initiative was reported by Reuters on Tuesday and confirmed the same day in a joint announcement from the two companies. ASML wants to move the industry from the 6-inch photomasks it has used for decades to 12-inch masks, so that its High NA machines can expose a chip the size of today's biggest data-centre processors in a single shot. The constraint is optical rather than commercial. High NA systems use anamorphic optics to resolve finer features, and the trade is that they expose roughly half the area of the older generation in one pass. Processors designed by Nvidia and Google already run to about 800 square millimetres, which sits at the ceiling of what the current tools print at once. On a High NA machine, a die that size would have to be stitched together from two exposures, a technique that costs throughput and introduces a seam where yield problems like to live. A bigger mask removes the need for the seam. The payoff ASML is advertising is throughput. "If we're going to pull it off as an industry, then you'll actually see that the productivity of those systems will go up by 40%," Marco Pieters, the company's chief technology officer, told Reuters. The phrasing is careful. A mask standard is not something a scanner vendor can change alone. Which is what makes TSMC's presence the news. The world's largest contract chipmaker has been the most conspicuous holdout on High NA, and TNW has covered its scepticism as Intel moved first. The company is now co-signing the roadmap. TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei said in a statement that bringing together expertise from across the industry's value chain was intended to keep delivering cutting-edge technology "through continuous innovation that lowers barriers". ASML chief executive Christophe Fouquet framed adoption as progressive, starting on 6-inch masks and later supported by 12-inch ones. The dates are worth reading slowly. TSMC intends to use High NA in high-volume manufacturing at advanced nodes from 2030, on the existing 6-inch masks. A pilot line for 12-inch masks is planned for 2031. The systems are not expected to be ready for advanced-node production until 2033. That is two full process generations away, and the AI chips this is meant to enable do not exist yet either. Others are further along on the machines if not the masks. Intel is already running High NA in production and has shipped laptop processors made on it, having bought in early when the tools cost roughly $400mn each. Samsung is targeting a High NA introduction for DRAM in 2028, and SK Hynix is weighing whether to join the consortium while aiming at the same year for High NA DRAM in volume. For ASML, the commercial logic is straightforward enough. Every High NA system it sells is worth several times a conventional EUV tool, and the company is already trying to build machines faster because AI demand is running ahead of what its factories can produce. Committing customers to a mask transition that only pays off on High NA is a way of making the expensive machine the default rather than the exception, well before the decade is out. The reason this needs a consortium rather than a purchase order is that a mask size is infrastructure. Changing it pulls in blank suppliers, pellicle makers, mask writers, inspection and repair tools, and every handling system in a fab, none of which ASML owns. That is a decade of coordinated capital spending across companies that compete with each other, agreed now on the expectation that chips will keep getting bigger. It is a reasonable bet. It is still a bet.

Samsung Electronics and ASML Expand Strategic Collaboration for Next-Generation Semiconductor Manufacturing - Samsung Global Newsroom

Samsung Electronics and ASML today announced an expansion of their long-standing strategic partnership, deepening collaboration on High NA EUV lithography and advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies that will help drive the next generation of innovation in the AI era. Building on years of successful cooperation, the companies will work together to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies that support the increasing performance and efficiency requirements of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Samsung will join the industry initiative to advance next-generation 12-inch photomask technology for future manufacturing. The semiconductor industry has relied on the 6-inch photomask format for decades. With High NA EUV, the transition to larger, 12-inch masks is expected to further increase fab productivity, lower chipmaking costs and remove stitching constraints. It will enable advanced chip manufacturers to fully leverage the advantages of High NA EUV, making future generations of leading-edge chips more cost-effective. Drawing on its leadership in both memory and foundry manufacturing, as well as its extensive experience with advanced EUV lithography, Samsung is positioned to play a critical role in the 12-inch photomask transition. The company will work closely with industry partners to develop the required mask technologies and supporting infrastructure. Samsung also plans to introduce ASML's High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography into future DRAM high-volume manufacturing for the first time in the industry by 2028, further demonstrating the readiness of High NA technology to support advanced memory and logic applications. High NA EUV is expected to extend the DRAM scaling roadmap, with improved resolution enabling process simplification and increased efficiency. The announcement reflects a shared commitment to innovation, technology leadership, and long-term partnership. Samsung and ASML expect to continue exploring opportunities for collaboration in areas including advanced memory and innovative manufacturing approaches. Young Hyun Jun, Vice Chairman & CEO, Samsung Electronics, said: "The AI era is transforming the semiconductor industry and increasing the importance of technological innovation across the entire value chain. Samsung is committed to maintaining leadership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, including memory and foundry, through breakthrough technologies and strong partnerships. By further strengthening our collaboration with ASML, we are helping lay the foundation for the next generation of AI and semiconductor innovation." Christophe Fouquet, President and Chief Executive Officer, ASML, said: "Samsung has been one of ASML's most important innovation partners for many years. Together, we have helped advance the technologies that underpin modern semiconductor manufacturing. As the industry enters a new era driven by artificial intelligence, close collaboration with our customers becomes even more important. We look forward to working with Samsung to enable the next wave of semiconductor innovation." About ASML Holding N.V. ASML is a leading supplier to the semiconductor industry. The company provides chipmakers with hardware, software and services to mass produce the patterns of integrated circuits (microchips). Together with its partners, ASML drives the advancement of more affordable, more powerful, more energy-efficient microchips. ASML enables groundbreaking technology to solve some of humanity's toughest challenges, such as in healthcare, energy use and conservation, mobility, and agriculture. ASML is a multinational company headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, with offices across EMEA, the US and Asia. Every day, ASML's more than 44,000 employees (FTE) challenge the status quo and push technology to new limits. ASML is traded on Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ under the symbol ASML. Discover ASML -- our products, technology and career opportunities -- at www.asml.com.

Samsung, ASML expand partnership to introduce next-gen lithography by 2028 - The Korea Times

Chipmaker leads Series C fundraising round of France's Mistral AI Samsung Electronics and semiconductor equipment giant ASML announced Tuesday that they will expand their strategic partnership on High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, with Samsung planning to introduce the technology into DRAM mass production by 2028 for the first time in the industry. The two companies said they will work together to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies that support the increasing performance and efficiency requirements of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Under their new agreement, Samsung said it plans to introduce ASML's High NA EUV lithography into future DRAM by 2028. Semiconductors are made by projecting geometric circuit patterns onto a silicon wafer using light, in this case EUV. In EUV lithography, the circuit pattern is formed on a photomask, EUV light reflects off the mask and an optical system reduces the image and projects it onto the wafer. As semiconductor technology advances, circuit patterns need to become increasingly fine. One way to achieve this is by increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of the optical system, a measure of how wide an angle of light the optical system can collect. Like a larger camera lens capturing a sharper image, a higher NA lets the system collect light from wider angles and produce finer details in the projected pattern. Conventional lithography may require multiple exposures to create extremely fine lines, while High NA can achieve the same pattern in a single exposure, simplifying the manufacturing process. Samsung said the introduction plan demonstrates its readiness for High NA technology to support advanced memory and logic chip applications. The company noted that High NA EUV is expected to extend the DRAM scaling road map, with improved resolution enabling process simplification and increased efficiency. One drawback of High-NA EUV is that it exposes a smaller area of the wafer at a time. As a result, larger chips may need to be exposed in multiple sections and then stitched together on the wafer, adding an extra process called stitching. To address this limitation, Samsung will join an industry initiative to advance next-generation 12-inch photomask technology, up from the current 6-inch standard. Samsung said 12-inch masks used with High-NA EUV are expected to further improve fab productivity, reduce chipmaking costs and eliminate stitching constraints. The company added that it will work closely with industry partners to develop the required mask technologies and supporting infrastructure. "Samsung is committed to maintaining leadership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, including memory and foundry, through breakthrough technologies and strong partnerships," said Young Hyun Jun, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and Head of Device Solutions Division. "By further strengthening our collaboration with ASML, we are helping lay the foundation for the next generation of AI and semiconductor innovation." Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics co-led a Series D funding round for Mistral AI, a leading European artificial intelligence model developer based in France. Mistral AI said on its website that it has raised 3 billion euros ($3.49 billion) through the round, the largest equity fundraising ever completed by a private European tech company, leading to a company valuation of more than 21 billion euros after the investment. Along with Samsung Electronics, Scaleup Europe Fund, and existing investor PSG Equity joined as co-leads of the round. Samsung Electronics did not disclose the amount it invested, but foreign news outlets suggested that the Korean company's investment may reach 1 billion euros. Mistral AI said the round will expand Mistral's frontier research by scaling its compute capacity for training powerful models, building out infrastructure and accelerating its commercial growth. Mistral AI now operates across 20 countries and supports over 125 global enterprises' AI transformation, including Airbus, ASML and HSBC. Its previous Series C funding round was led by ASML, whose 1.3 billion euro investment made the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker Mistral AI's largest shareholder.

Samsung, ASML team up on next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technology - The Korea Times

Samsung Electronics CEO Jun Young-hyun said the AI era is increasing the importance of technological innovation across the semiconductor value chain. Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it has joined a consortium led by Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML to develop next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technologies. The partnership aims to advance 12-inch photomask technology for future semiconductor manufacturing, replacing the 6-inch photomask format that has been widely used for decades, the Korean technology giant said. "Building on years of successful cooperation, the companies will work together to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies that support the increasing performance and efficiency requirements of advanced semiconductor manufacturing," Samsung said in a press release. The technology is expected to boost fab productivity and reduce chipmaking costs amid surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. "The AI era is transforming the semiconductor industry and increasing the importance of technological innovation across the entire value chain," Samsung Electronics CEO Jun Young-hyun said. "By further strengthening our collaboration with ASML, we are helping lay the foundation for the next generation of AI and semiconductor innovation." Samsung also plans to introduce ASML's High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology into high-volume manufacturing of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) for the first time in the industry by 2028. High NA EUV is expected to extend the DRAM scaling road map by providing improved resolution, enabling process simplification and greater manufacturing efficiency.