An ASML EUV system arrives at Intel's fab in Ireland

The system ASML EUV lithography system is described as a key enabler of Intel 4 process technology, and the arrival marks an important moment for the installation phase of Intel's Leixlip project.

While lithography scanners have been an integral part of making mircochips for many years, the newest version of this technology can print circuitry smaller and more precisely than anything that has come before. It can print features as small as 13 nanometres in size with an alignment precision of just over 1nm, Intel explains in an update.

The first system arrived in Ireland having journeyed across the Atlantic from the chipmaker's Technology Development fab in Oregon. And just to put things in perspective – it's by no means a small piece of machinery – it was transported by 4 Boeing 747 Cargo planes with pieces weighing up to 15 tonnes each. It then completed the final leg of its journey being carried by 35+ trucks.

Intel says in the update that the system consists of 100,000 parts, 3,000 cables, 40,000 bolts and that it has taken 18 months of design and construction activity to prepare the Fab 34 building to receive the machine. It spans four levels of the factory, from the Basement, through to the Subfab, Fab and with an inbuilt crane that extends into the ceiling level.