SAN FRANCISCO: Dutch semiconductor-equipment giant ASML is working with leading chipmakers on changes that could allow its most advanced lithography machines to manufacture the extremely large processors increasingly required for artificial-intelligence data centres.
ASML produces the highly sophisticated lithography systems used to print microscopic circuits onto silicon wafers. Its newest generation, known as High-NA EUV, can create even finer features than existing extreme-ultraviolet machines, potentially allowing substantially more powerful and energy-efficient processors to be produced.
One obstacle, however, is that the new machines currently use smaller masks that limit the physical size of chips they can produce. ASML now plans to work with manufacturers on larger 12-inch masks, which could eventually allow High-NA systems to manufacture the huge processors designed by companies such as Nvidia and Google for AI computing.
Intel is already using ASML’s newest technology for some production, while Samsung and SK Hynix are targeting High-NA technology for advanced memory production from around 2028 and TSMC expects to introduce it into advanced high-volume manufacturing later. ASML aims to demonstrate the larger-mask system on a pilot line by 2031, with high-volume readiness targeted for 2033. The company says the changes could eventually raise system productivity by about 40%.