ASML's High-NA EUV Ready for AI Chips

Each High-NA EUV system costs approximately $380 million to $400 million, more than double the price of the previous EUV generation. These machines are massive, weighing 150,000 kilograms, and require 250 crates and 250 engineers for a six-month assembly process. ASML, which holds a near-monopoly on EUV technology, has already received 10 to 20 orders for these new systems. The key technological leap in High-NA EUV is the increase in numerical aperture (NA) from 0.33 to 0.55, enabling a resolution of 8nm, a significant improvement from the 13nm of previous tools. This allows for printing transistors 1.7 times smaller and achieving a 2.9 times higher transistor density. This advancement is critical for producing sub-3nm chips and eliminates the need for complex and costly double-patterning techniques required with older systems. Intel was the first to receive a High-NA EUV system, the TWINSCAN EXE:5000, in December 2023 for its research and development fab in Oregon. The company has since installed the first commercial production model, the Twinscan EXE:5200B, and plans to use it for its 14A process node. Other major chipmakers like TSMC and Samsung have also confirmed plans to adopt High-NA technology. The adoption of High-NA EUV significantly streamlines chip manufacturing. For certain layers, it can reduce the number of processing steps from around 40 to single digits, drastically cutting down cycle times. While the machines are now technically ready for high-volume manufacturing, it is expected to take clients two to three years to fully integrate them into their production lines, with widespread use anticipated around 2025-2026.