ASML Chief Executive Christophe Fouquet expects customers to receive the very first computer chips made with his company’s newest machines within the next few months. The Dutch technology giant builds massive, highly advanced tools for chipmakers around the world. Fouquet shared this timeline on Tuesday to calm industry fears about the massive price tags attached to the new factory equipment.
These new machines use High-NA EUV technology, and they carry a breathtaking cost. A single machine sells for up to $400 million. Last month, leaders at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, better known as TSMC, complained about this extreme price. TSMC currently stands as ASML’s biggest customer. The Taiwanese chipmaker stated that the new tools simply cost too much money to use right now.
Fouquet defended his new products during a research conference in Antwerp. He expressed strong confidence that major tech companies will adopt the technology very soon. He told the audience that engineers will test the first memory and logic products on the new High-NA system in just a few months. He admitted the tools cost a fortune and require rigorous qualification testing. However, he argued that engineers designed the machines to lower the total cost of printing chips over time. Even a 1.5% increase in production efficiency can save a massive chip factory millions of dollars every single week.
ASML holds a highly unique position in the global tech world. The company builds extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography tools. Chipmakers use these giant machines to print microscopic circuits onto flat silicon wafers. High demand for these specific tools helped the Dutch manufacturer become the most valuable company in Europe.
The new High-NA version upgrades this printing process significantly. The high numerical aperture technology acts exactly like a camera with a much sharper lens focus. It allows companies to print physical features that measure up to 66% smaller than previous limits. Smaller circuits mean companies can pack far more computing power into the exact same physical space.
While TSMC hesitates, Intel is spending heavily to secure these new machines. The American company plans to use the $400 million tools to leapfrog its main rivals, TSMC and Samsung. Intel wants to regain its old title as the top chip manufacturer in the world. Other companies also see the massive value in the new hardware. Memory chip maker SK Hynix recently confirmed its own plans to buy the new high-tech equipment.
TSMC refuses to rush into buying the expensive new tools. Executive Kevin Zhang recently explained the Taiwanese company’s plan. He said TSMC will simply keep using ASML’s current EUV machines for the next several generations of computer chips. TSMC engineers plan to keep finding creative ways to improve chip designs without needing to print smaller lines just yet.
The global race to build artificial intelligence systems keeps the demand for all these chips incredibly high. Tech giants routinely spend over $1 billion to build new data centers for AI software. Fouquet predicts this massive AI boom will push global chip sales up by 20% every single year for the foreseeable future.
During the COVID pandemic, ASML struggled to build machines fast enough, creating a huge bottleneck for the entire global tech industry. Some experts worry that ASML might slow the industry down again as demand spikes. Fouquet rejected this idea during his speech. He made a quick joke aimed directly at the TSMC and Samsung executives sitting in the room. He quipped that the chipmakers represent the actual bottleneck for AI today. He added that to fix the problem, those companies simply need to expand their factories and buy more ASML products.
