Intel purchases ASML high-NA EUV lithography tool barred from China export, securing advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity.

Dutch chip equipment maker ASML has begun shipping its next-generation high-NA (High Numerical Aperture) EUV lithography tools to semiconductor fabrication plants, with each unit priced at $400 million, or approximately 620 billion won.

According to MIT Technology Review, the tool delivers 8-nanometer (nm) resolution, enabling the etching of finer circuits than existing EUV systems. Lithography is the process of projecting light onto a silicon wafer to define transistor and interconnect structures. ASML controls roughly 90 percent of the market for equipment that is effectively essential for producing advanced chips, from smartphone processors to AI server semiconductors. The new tool can pattern features smaller than the 13 nm achievable with existing EUV systems, and demand is expected to rise among chipmakers seeking higher chip density.

The driver is competition in artificial intelligence infrastructure. OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Anthropic are aggressively expanding large server farms, creating surging demand for higher-performance and more power-efficient chips. ASML Chief Technology Officer Marco Pieters noted that the explosive AI expansion is enabled by the transition to finer process nodes, adding that what has been observed thus far is only the beginning.

High-NA EUV does not introduce a new light source; it retains the existing EUV source while increasing the numerical aperture from 0.33 to 0.55 to achieve more precise patterning. ASML reports this can nearly halve transistor size and roughly triple on-chip density. Realizing this requires larger mirrors, a more powerful laser, and an accelerated drive system. The reticle moves with acceleration up to 22g, while Germany's Zeiss designed a larger reflector and an entirely new 12-ton projection system.

Intel is the leading early adopter. Intel received its first high-NA tool at its Oregon fabrication plant in spring 2024 and has been assembling and testing it. Intel fellow Mark Phillips expressed satisfaction, noting that the system's performance is stabilizing rapidly. Intel plans to deploy the tool initially in select precision processes, then gradually expand its use across additional nodes. TSMC, by contrast, states it will adopt high-NA EUV only when the technology matures sufficiently to deliver maximum value to customers. Industry observers expect TSMC to push existing EUV and multipatterning techniques as far as feasible before making a full transition in the 2030s.

Cost will be critical in determining adoption velocity. Existing EUV tools already exceed $100 million, or about 154.06 billion won, but high-NA EUV is significantly more expensive at approximately $400 million. Even given the clear benefits of simplified processes and improved performance, chipmakers face substantial financial burdens in rapidly scaling deployment across large production lines. Semianalysis researcher Jeff Koch noted that performance improves by 30 to 50 percent, but this tool may be the first ASML product whose business case is not immediately clear.

Regulation is also fragmenting the market. In 2019, the United States pressured the Dutch government to prevent ASML from supplying advanced equipment to Chinese companies. As a result, China has obtained neither high-NA nor existing EUV tools and has pursued deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography and multipatterning as alternative strategies. David Lin, senior adviser at the Special Competitive Studies Project, said China will push DUV to its limits. China is also attempting to offset a shortage of high-performance AI chips through software, developing lightweight large language models such as DeepSeek.

Efforts to challenge ASML's dominance continue. U.S. startup Substrate is developing lithography equipment using X-rays generated by particle accelerators, with mass production targeted for 2030. Norway's Lase Lithography is pursuing a method employing an energy-driven helium atom beam instead of photons. Both companies, however, are currently assessed as needing to bridge the gap between laboratory demonstration and commercial-scale production.

ASML is also preparing for the next generation. The company is exploring "hyper-NA" technology that raises the numerical aperture to 0.75 and investigating methods to achieve approximately 6-nanometer resolution. ASML Vice President for Technology Jos Benschop stated that no practical alternative is currently visible and that no serious competitor exists in leading-edge mass production. The next wave of semiconductor competition will depend on who can first connect this equipment to stable, high-volume manufacturing.