ASML to partner with major chipmakers for next-generation tools for larger data center chips
New Delhi, September 8
Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML plans to collaborate with its major customers to deploy its most advanced tools for producing large data center chips designed by firms such as Nvidia, according to a news report by Reuters.
The Dutch company manufactures lithography equipment, which prints integrated circuits onto silicon wafers by projecting light through a patterned mask that holds the chip design.
Currently, the firm's widely deployed extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems print semiconductors measuring up to roughly 800 square millimeters. Modern technology firms, including Nvidia and Google, routinely design processors right up to that physical boundary.
As per Reuters, ASML's forthcoming generation of machines, termed "High NA" EUV tools, prints circuitry with significantly finer details. However, these incoming tools currently face restrictions regarding the physical dimensions of the chips they produce because they rely on a smaller mask.
While Intel already uses ASML's newest tools to manufacture its laptop processors, ASML announced it plans to shift toward a larger mask dimension. This transition intends to allow the latest lithography equipment to fabricate processors as large as the biggest data center semiconductors made today.
According to the news report, adopting larger masks for the High NA machines aims to encourage broader adoption across commercial high-volume manufacturing. At present, Intel uses the equipment for manufacturing, but neither Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) nor Samsung Electronics employs the units for high-volume fabrication work.
TSMC said it plans to deploy ASML's High NA technology within advanced-node, high-volume manufacturing starting in 2030.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Samsung Electronics intends to incorporate High NA EUV systems into its high-volume DRAM memory production lines by 2028.
Separately, memory manufacturer SK Hynix stated that it is evaluating participation in an industry consortium regarding the introduction of 12-inch masks. The company added that it targets 2028 to implement High NA EUV manufacturing processes into its commercial DRAM output.
To support this industry shift, ASML scheduled a pilot line featuring the expanded mask format for 2031. The equipment maker aims to have the complete technology prepared for full-scale commercial manufacturing by 2033.
The operational improvements from this collaborative transition represent a significant efficiency step for commercial fabrication lines, according to company leadership.
"If we're going to pull it off as an industry," Marco Pieters, chief technology officer at ASML, told Reuters. "Then you'll actually see that the productivity of those systems will go up by 40%."
— ANI
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