ASML to Ship A number of Excessive-NA Instruments in 2025, Expands Manufacturing Capacities
ASML started to ship its first High-NA lithography software to Intel late final yr ,and the machine will probably be absolutely assembled in Oregon within the coming months. Delivery solely a single excessive ultraviolet (EUV) system with a 0.55 numerical aperture lens might not appear to be too spectacular, however the firm goals to ship a a lot bigger variety of such gadgets this yr, and additional manufacturing will increase within the coming years.
ASML didn’t disclose what number of Excessive-NA EUV litho instruments it plans to ship this yr, however the firm has already introduced that it had obtained orders for these machines from all main makers of logic chips (Intel, Samsung Foundry, TSMC) and reminiscence (Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix), and that the entire quantity presently stands between 10 and 20 programs. Basically, which means that Excessive-NA EUV will probably be extensively used. However the query is when.
ASML’s Excessive-NA EUV Twinscan EXE lithography programs are the corporate’s next-generation flagship manufacturing instruments that may allow chipmakers to lower vital dimensions of chips to 8nm in a single publicity, a considerable enchancment over 13nm supplied by at this time’s Low-NA EUV Twinscan NXE. However that enchancment comes at a value. Every Twinscan EXE prices €350 million ($380 million), which is over two instances greater than the worth of a Twinscan NXE (€170 million, $183 million).
The steep price ticket of the brand new instruments has led to debates on its speedy financial feasibility as it’s nonetheless attainable to print 8nm options utilizing Low-NA instruments, albeit utilizing double patterning, which is a costlier and yield-impacting approach. For instance, Intel is expected to insert Excessive-NA EUV lithography into its manufacturing movement for its post-18A fabrication course of (1.8 nm-class) typically in 2026 – 2027, whereas analysts from China Renaissance believe that TSMC solely intends to begin utilizing these instruments for its 1 nm-class manufacturing node someday in 2030. Different trade analysts, like Jeff Koch from Semianalysis, additionally consider that the broader adoption of those high-cost machines may not happen till it turns into economically wise, anticipated round 2030-2031.
Nonetheless, ASML executives, together with chief government Peter Wennink, argue that elimination of double patterning by Excessive-NA EUV machines will present sufficient benefits — corresponding to course of simplification and probably shorter manufacturing cycle — to deploy them earlier than analysts predict, round 2026-2027.
Having secured between 10 and 20 orders for the Excessive NA EUV machines, ASML is getting ready to extend its manufacturing capability to satisfy the demand for 20 items yearly by 2028. That mentioned, the uncertainties round different chipmarkers’ plans to make use of Excessive-NA instruments within the subsequent two or three years raises issues about potential overcapacity within the close to time period as ASML ramps up manufacturing.
