Latest news with #HighNA
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
How and why one of the Europe's biggest technology company has lost $130 billion-plus from its value in less than a year
ASML, a key player in the semiconductor supply chain , has seen its market value plummet by over $130 billion in less than a year, dropping from a peak of $429.5 billion in July 2024 to $297 billion by Tuesday's close, per S&P Capital IQ data. The decline reportedly stems from U.S. export restrictions to China and uncertainty over potential U.S. tariffs under President Donald Trump. ASML is one of the biggest technology companies in Europe. The Dutch company, the sole producer of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines used by chipmakers like TSMC to manufacture advanced chips, has faced significant headwinds. 'All the equipment manufacturers in the space have come down because they are concentrating all the fears around … the U.S. restrictions to China,' Stephane Houri, head of equity research at ODDO BHF, told CNBC's 'Europe Early Edition' on Wednesday. Houri also pointed to tariff concerns and questions about over-investment in AI, noting uncertainty over whether 'demand is not at the level that many people expect.' What's hurting ASML ASML's inability to ship its most advanced EUV machines to China has limited its sales potential. CEO Christophe Fouquet told CNBC in January that the company's China business is expected to shrink in 2025 compared to 2023 and 2024. Recently, ASML began shipping its next-generation High NA machines, but global chip stocks continue to face pressure from trade uncertainties. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Zumbido e perda de audição? Médico revela técnica caseira de 1 real para aliviar! Zumbido no ouvido Undo Despite these challenges, a potential U.S.-Europe trade deal could ease market concerns. 'If there is an agreement in the end with President Trump and ... Europe and many other countries, they probably will benefit from the relief in the market, and notably in the sector,' Houri said. Analysts remain optimistic, with LSEG data showing an average price target of 779 euros for ASML, suggesting a 17% upside from Tuesday's close. A recent Wells Fargo note, following discussions with ASML's management, highlighted the company's positive outlook for 2025 and 2026, driven by demand from firms like Samsung and Intel for next-generation chipmaking tools.
Reuters
27-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
TSMC still evaluating ASML's 'High-NA' as Intel eyes future use
AMSTERDAM, May 27 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( the world's largest contract chipmaker, is still assessing when it will use ASML's cutting-edge high numerical aperture (NA) machines for its future process nodes, an executive said on Tuesday. Chipmakers are weighing when the speed and accuracy benefits of these nearly $400 million machines will outweigh the almost doubled price tag of what is already the most expensive piece of equipment in a chip fabrication plant. Asked if TSMC plans to use the machine for its upcoming A14, and enhanced versions of the future node, Kevin Zhang said the company hasn't yet found a compelling reason. "A14, the enhancement I talk about, is very substantial without using High-NA. So our technology team continues to find a way to extend the life of current (Low-NA EUV machines) by harvesting the scaling benefit," he said at a press briefing. "As long as they continue to find a way, obviously we don't have to use it," Zhang said. Rival Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab has planned to use the High-NA EUV machine in its future manufacturing process, known as 14A, in an attempt to revive its contract chip business and better compete with TSMC. However, Intel also says that customers will still have the option of using older and more proven technologies. During ASML's last earnings report, CEO Christophe Fouquet said he expects customers to test High-NA for high-volume manufacturing readiness through 2026-2027, before they evaluate the tool on their most advanced nodes in a latter phase. Last year, Zhang had told reporters TSMC will not use High-NA for its A16 node, adding he did not like the sticker price. So far, ASML has shipped five of the 180 ton, double-decker sized machine across the world to three customers, counting Intel, TSMC and Samsung ( opens new tab.
CNA
27-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
TSMC still evaluating ASML's 'High-NA' as Intel eyes future use
AMSTERDAM :Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( the world's largest contract chipmaker, is still assessing when it will use ASML's cutting-edge high numerical aperture (NA) machines for its future process nodes, an executive said on Tuesday. Chipmakers are weighing when the speed and accuracy benefits of these nearly $400 million machines will outweigh the almost doubled price tag of what is already the most expensive piece of equipment in a chip fabrication plant. Asked if TSMC plans to use the machine for its upcoming A14, and enhanced versions of the future node, Kevin Zhang said the company hasn't yet found a compelling reason. "A14, the enhancement I talk about, is very substantial without using High-NA. So our technology team continues to find a way to extend the life of current (Low-NA EUV machines) by harvesting the scaling benefit," he said at a press briefing. "As long as they continue to find a way, obviously we don't have to use it," Zhang said. Rival Intel has planned to use the High-NA EUV machine in its future manufacturing process, known as 14A, in an attempt to revive its contract chip business and better compete with TSMC. However, Intel also says that customers will still have the option of using older and more proven technologies. During ASML's last earnings report, CEO Christophe Fouquet said he expects customers to test High-NA for high-volume manufacturing readiness through 2026-2027, before they evaluate the tool on their most advanced nodes in a latter phase. Last year, Zhang had told reporters TSMC will not use High-NA for its A16 node, adding he did not like the sticker price. So far, ASML has shipped five of the 180 ton, double-decker sized machine across the world to three customers, counting Intel, TSMC and Samsung.
Business Mayor
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Business Mayor
Exclusive look at the making of High NA, ASML's new $400 million chipmaking colossus
Behind highly secured doors in a giant lab in the Netherlands, there's a machine that's transforming how microchips are made. ASML spent nearly a decade developing High NA, which stands for high numerical aperture. With a price tag of more than $400 million, it's the world's most advanced and expensive chipmaking machine. CNBC went to the Netherlands for a tour of the lab in April. Before that, High NA had never been filmed, even by ASML's own team. Inside the lab, High NA qualification team lead Assia Haddou gave CNBC an exclusive, up-close look at the High NA machines, which she said are 'bigger than a double-decker bus.' The machine is made up of four modules, manufactured in Connecticut, California, Germany and the Netherlands, then assembled in the Veldhoven, Netherlands, lab for testing and approval, before being disassembled again to ship out. Haddou said it takes seven partially loaded Boeing 747s, or at least 25 trucks, to get one system to a customer. The world's first commercial installation of High NA happened at Intel 's Oregon chip fabrication plant, or fab, in 2024. Only five of the colossal machines have ever been shipped. They're now being ramped up to make millions of chips on the factory floors of the few companies that can afford them: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. , Samsung and Intel. High NA is the latest generation of ASML's Extreme Ultraviolet, or EUV, machines. ASML is the exclusive maker of EUV, the only lithography devices in the world capable of projecting the smallest blueprints that make up the most advanced microchips. Chip designs from giants like Nvidia , Apple and AMD can't be manufactured without EUV. ASML told CNBC that High NA will eventually be used by all its EUV customers. That includes other advanced chipmakers like Micron , SK Hynix and Rapidus. 'This company has that market completely cornered,' said Daniel Newman of The Futurum Group. High NA chipmaking machine in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on April 24, 2025. Magdalena Petrova CNBC asked CEO Christophe Fouquet what's stopping ASML from setting the price of its machines even higher. He explained that as machines advance, they make it cheaper to produce the chips themselves. 'Moore's law says that we need to continue to drive costs down,' Fouquet said. 'There is a belief that if you drive costs down, you create more opportunity, so we need to be part of this game.' Two major customers have confirmed that High NA has shown big improvements over ASML's previous EUV machines. At a conference in February, Intel said it had used High NA to make about 30,000 wafers so far, and that the machine was about twice as reliable as its predecessors. At that same conference, Samsung said High NA could reduce its cycle time by 60%, meaning its chips can complete more operations per second. Read More Silicon Valley Bank: Biden says US banking system is safe 'A very risky investment' High NA can drive chip prices down because of these improvements in speed and performance. High NA also improves yield, meaning more of the chips on each wafer are usable. That's because it can project chip designs at a higher resolution. High NA uses the same process as EUV machines but with a larger lens opening that allows for projection of smaller chip design in fewer steps. 'High NA means two things. First and foremost, shrink. So there's more devices on a single wafer,' said Jos Benschop, ASML's executive vice president of technology. 'Secondly, by avoiding multiple patterning, you can make them faster and you can make them with higher yield.' Benschop joined ASML in 1997, two years after it became a publicly traded company. Benschop then helped drive the decision to go all in on EUV. The technology took more than 20 years to develop. ASML executive VP of technology Jos Benschop gave CNBC's Katie Tarasov a look at High NA chipmaking in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on April 24, 2025. Magdalena Petrova 'We barely made it. I think sometimes people forget that,' Fouquet said. 'It's been a very risky investment because when we started, there was no guarantee the technology would work.' By 2018, ASML proved the viability of EUV and major chipmakers started placing big orders for the machines. The idea, which seemed impossible to many two decades ago, was to create large amounts of tiny rays of extreme ultraviolet light, projecting it through masks with increasingly small chip designs, onto wafers of silicon treated with photoresist chemicals. To create the EUV light, ASML shoots molten tin out of a nozzle at 50,000 droplets per second, shooting each drop with a powerful laser that creates a plasma that's hotter than the sun. Those tiny explosions are what emit photons of the EUV light, with a wavelength of just 13.5 nanometers. About the width of five DNA strands, EUV is so small that it's absorbed by all known substances, so the whole process has to happen in a vacuum. The EUV light bounces off mirrors that aim it through a lens, much like how a camera works. To solve for EUV getting absorbed by mirrors, German optics company Zeiss made specific mirrors just for ASML that are the flattest manmade surfaces in the world. ASML's older generation DUV machines use less precise rays of deep ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 193 nanometers. ASML still makes the machines — competing against Nikon and Canon in Japan on DUV — but it is the only company in the world that's succeeded at EUV lithography. Read More New UK WhatsApp 'block' alert issued to millions and ignoring it could cost you The Dutch company began developing the $400 million High NA machines around 2016. High NA machines work the same as DUV, with the same EUV light source. But there's one key difference. High NA stands for high numerical aperture – meaning it has a larger lens opening, increasing the angle at which the light is captured by the mirrors. More light coming in from steeper angles allows High NA machines to transfer increasingly small designs onto the wafer in one step. By comparison, lower NA machines require multiple projections of EUV light, through multiple masks. 'When the number increases, it gets very complex process-wise and the yield goes down,' Fouquet said. Resolution improves as NA increases, bringing down the need for multiple masks and exposures, saving time and money. The cost of the High NA machine, however, goes up. 'The bigger the mirror you have to use and therefore the bigger the system,' Fouquet said. These machines also take up a huge amount of power. 'If we don't improve the power efficiency of our AI chips over time, the training of the models could consume the entire worldwide energy and that could happen around 2035,' Fouquet said. That's why ASML has reduced the power needed per wafer exposure by more than 60% since 2018, he said. ASML's Assia Haddou shows CNBC's Katie Tarasov a High NA chipmaking machine in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on April 24, 2025. Magdalena Petrova
CNBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
How ASML makes chips faster with new $400 million High NA machine
In a highly secured lab in the Netherlands, ASML spent a decade developing a $400 million machine that's transforming how microchips are made. High NA is the latest generation of EUV, the only machines on Earth that can etch nanoscopic blueprints on advanced chips for giants like Intel, TSMC and Samsung. It's unclear how Trump's tariffs will impact the company, but the likes of Nvidia, Apple and AMD can't make advanced chips without ASML. CNBC went to the Netherlands for an exclusive first look.
