Unnamed firm buys world's second High-NA EUV machine
ASML has disclosed that it has shipped a second Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) machine, but it hasn't named the customer.
Last December, the Dutch firm shipped its first second-generation machine to Intel. And recent reports say that Intel has now succeeded in assembling the extraordinarily complex tool. Now, a second machine has been dispatched.
In its recent filings, ASML said: "Regarding High-NA, or 0.55 NA EUV, we shipped our first system to a customer and this system is currently under installation. We started to ship the second system this month and its installation is also about to start."
ASML is the only company in the world that makes the EUV litho machines that print circuitry patterns on silicon wafers. They enable foundries to etch the billions of transistors needed to make advanced chips for smartphones, servers and AI applications.
So is the new buyer TSMC? Observers think not. The perception is that TSMC is not yet ready to invest in High-NA EUV and could favour the more cost effective Low-NA EUV double patterning technique.
Intel is, of course, betting that High-NA EUV can help it to regain some ground on TSMC and Samsung in the advanced space. Its 14A process node, equal to TSMC and Samsung's 1.4nm process nodes, is expected to be used in mass production in 2027.
