TSMC delays High‑NA rollout

TSMC said it will wait until about 2029 to use ASML’s newest High-NA chipmaking machines in volume production, choosing cheaper existing tools instead. (bloomberg.com) Kevin Zhang, TSMC’s deputy co-chief operating officer, said at the company’s 2026 Technology Symposium that current extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, systems still deliver enough scaling. He called the next-generation High-NA machines “very, very expensive.” (bloomberg.com) ASML’s High-NA tools sell for more than €350 million, or about $410 million, each. TSMC said its A13 process will enter production in 2029 without needing those scanners. (electronicsweekly.com; bloomberg.com) Chip lithography is the factory step that projects circuit patterns onto silicon, like printing ever-smaller lines with ever more precise lenses. High-NA, short for high numerical aperture, uses a larger lens opening to draw finer features in fewer steps than today’s EUV systems. (asml.com; techpowerup.com) TSMC’s decision leaves the race split between early adopters and wait-and-see buyers. Intel said in February 2025 that two High-NA systems at its Oregon development fab had already processed 30,000 wafers in one quarter. (tech.yahoo.com) For ASML, the delay hits a closely watched product cycle. The company has told investors it expects High-NA tools to reach high-volume production in 2027 and 2028, and it has pointed to as much as €60 billion in annual revenue by 2030. (finance.yahoo.com; stocktitan.net) Investors treated TSMC’s timing as a setback for that rollout. ASML’s U.S.-traded shares fell as much as 5.5% intraday after Zhang’s comments were reported. (theedgesingapore.com) TSMC used the same event to extend its roadmap deeper into the decade. The company’s 2026 symposium materials highlighted A16, A14 and new 2029-era nodes, including A13, as it argued that older EUV generations can still support another round of shrinking. (tsmc.com; eetimes.com) That leaves ASML with the newest machine on the market, and TSMC with the biggest say over when it becomes standard factory equipment. For now, the world’s largest contract chipmaker is betting that the older EUV fleet still pencils out better. (bloomberg.com; electronicsweekly.com)