On June 6, Dutch lithography machine manufacturer ASML will deliver its latest lithography machine to TSMC this year. According to company spokesperson Monique Mols, Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen said in a recent analyst conference call that ASML's two major customers, including TSMC and Intel, will receive high-NA EUV lithography machines by the end of this year.
Intel has placed an order for the latest lithography machine and shipped the first machine to its factory in Oregon at the end of December last year. It is not clear when TSMC will receive the equipment. TSMC representatives said the company has been working closely with suppliers, but declined to comment further on the matter.
After the report was released, ASML's stock price rose 9.52% to US$1,041.34 in U.S. stock trading on Wednesday. So far this year, ASML's stock price has risen by about 35%.
ASML's latest lithography machine can carve lines as narrow as 8 nanometers on semiconductors, 1.7 times the width of the previous generation of equipment, which will be used to produce chips that support artificial intelligence applications and advanced consumer electronics.
Each machine costs 350 million euros (about 380 million U.S. dollars) and weighs as much as two Airbus A320 aircraft. ASML is the world's only manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet lithography technology, and demand for its products is seen as a barometer of the industry's development.
TSMC has expressed concerns about the price of the machine. "I am very happy with the performance of the high-NA extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, but the price is too high," TSMC Senior Vice President Zhang Xiaoqiang said in Amsterdam in May this year. He also pointed out that TSMC's A16 node technology, expected to be launched in late 2026, will not use ASML's latest lithography machine, but will continue to use older extreme ultraviolet equipment.
Nevertheless, TSMC has been actively involved in ASML's high-NA extreme ultraviolet lithography project. Jefferies analysts including Janardan Menon said they expect TSMC to adopt the lithography machine in its A14 node technology in 2028. After the call with Dassen, analysts said ASML still believes that revenue in 2025 is likely to reach the upper half of the forecast range.
Jefferies analysts also expect ASML's average order value in the remaining three quarters of this year to reach 5.7 billion euros (about 6.2 billion U.S. dollars), pushing sales in 2025 to 40 billion euros (43.5 billion U.S. dollars).
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