Dutch lithography machine giant ASML has announced that this year it will provide Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, with its latest generation of advanced chip manufacturing equipment.
According to Bloomberg, ASML spokesperson Monique Mols stated that the company’s Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen told analysts in a recent conference call that both of its largest customers, TSMC and Intel, will receive high-numeric aperture (high-NA) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines by the end of this year.
Intel, after ordering the latest high-NA EUV lithography machine, received the first equipment at the end of December last year, delivered to a facility in Oregon. It is currently unclear when ASML’s largest EUV lithography machine customer, TSMC, will receive this equipment.
On Wednesday, ASML’s stock price in Amsterdam rose by 5.2% to 918.10 euros at 2:15 PM. The company’s stock price has seen an increase of about 35% since the beginning of the year.
ASML’s new machine is capable of imprinting semiconductors with a thickness of only 8 nanometers, 1.7 times smaller than the previous generation, and will be used to produce chips powering artificial intelligence applications and advanced consumer electronics products.
Each of these machines costs 350 million euros (380 million US dollars), equivalent to the value of two Airbus A320 airplanes.
In the face of ASML’s high-priced EUV lithography machines, TSMC’s Senior Vice President Kevin Zhang stated in Amsterdam in May that TSMC’s A16 node technology will be launched by the end of 2026. This equipment does not require the use of ASML’s high-NA EUV lithography machine and can continue to use TSMC’s older EUV lithography machines.
However, TSMC has always been an active participant in ASML’s high-NA EUV program.
ASML is the world’s only manufacturer of EUV lithography machines and is playing an increasingly crucial role in the US-China tech war. Under pressure from the US, ASML has been tightening controls on the export and maintenance services of lithography machines.
In 2019, following the footsteps of the Trump administration, the Dutch government demanded that ASML cease exporting its most advanced EUV machines to mainland China. With further push from the Biden administration, in March this year, the Netherlands plans to restrict the export of more advanced versions of ASML’s older DUV lithography machines to China. These machines can be used in conjunction with other technologies to manufacture powerful chips for civilian and military use.
Jefferies analysts stated that ASML’s average order volume in the remaining three quarters of this year could be around 5.7 billion euros, thereby boosting its sales to 40 billion euros in 2025.
Reuters reported last month that two sources revealed the US government’s pressure on the Netherlands to prevent ASML from providing maintenance services to China for certain chip equipment in order to counteract the chip ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party.