TSMC partners with ASML

The agreement includes an investment amount of 838 million euros in ASML to acquire a 5% of its equity; and to commit 276 million euros, spread over 5 years, to ASML’s research and development programs. “One of the biggest challenges facing IC scaling today is how to effectively control the escalating wafer manufacturing cost,” said Shang-yi Chiang, TSMC’s Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer. “We are confident that the additional funding for ASML’s research and development programs will help secure and accelerate EUV development activities, in parallel with the necessary focus on improved performance of existing optical lithography tools and speed up the deployment of new technologies for 450-millimeter wafers. This effort will help the industry control wafer cost, and therefore protect the economic viability of Moore’s Law.” “We welcome TSMC to our Customer Co-Investment Program announced on July 9, 2012. The objective of the Co-Investment program is to secure and accelerate key lithography technologies. These technologies will benefit the entire industry and are not restricted to our Co-Investment partners,” said Eric Meurice, Chief Executive Officer of ASML. This agreement to develop key next generation lithography technologies is a natural extension of the long-term partnership between ASML and TSMC. ASML and TSMC collaborated successfully in the development of the 193-nanometer immersion lithography, and hope to help lead the industry again in the development of next generation lithography.