ASML Holding has locked in commitments from the world’s three largest chipmakers for its most advanced lithography equipment, cementing the Dutch supplier’s central role in the race to build faster semiconductors for artificial intelligence workloads.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will begin deploying the High-NA EUV machines in 2030, while Samsung Electronics is targeting adoption as early as 2028 for memory chip production. Intel has already received its first tools and is mass producing with the new system, according to the company.
Each machine carries a price tag of roughly $400 million. The technology uses wider lenses to achieve sharper focus, allowing manufacturers to print circuit features up to three times smaller on silicon wafers in a single pass compared with older methods.
Beyond the equipment purchases, all four companies agreed to a major upgrade in photomask specifications. The industry will transition from the current 6-inch mask standard to 12-inch versions, a shift aimed at boosting factory output and lowering per-chip costs. Photomasks function like carved woodblocks, using light to imprint wiring patterns onto silicon disks.
ASML Chief Technology Officer Marco Pieters said the larger mask format could lift High-NA machine throughput by 40% while simplifying chip design. He described the buyer agreements as a major step forward, signaling that chipmakers see genuine productivity gains in the new tools over previous generations.
TSMC’s adoption plan is deliberately phased. The company will start with High-NA systems running standard 6-inch masks in 2030, then build a test line for 12-inch masks by 2031, with full production using the larger format targeted for 2033. Chief Executive Officer C.C. Wei said the company believes in teamwork to resolve technical hurdles before they turn into cost problems.
The Taiwanese foundry had previously taken a cautious stance on the expensive equipment. Its commitment now brings ASML’s three biggest customers onto a shared technology roadmap. TSMC alone accounts for about 16% of ASML’s total revenue, according to Bloomberg.
Samsung’s earlier timeline reflects the urgency in its memory business. The South Korean company plans to use High-NA tools to help address memory chip shortages driven by booming AI data center construction. TSMC, meanwhile, fabricates custom processors for major clients including Nvidia and Apple.
Intel has been working on the 12-inch mask project for more than three years as part of its broader factory expansion. The company’s early adoption of High-NA systems positions it ahead of rivals in deploying the most advanced lithography available.
Wall Street analysts maintain a Strong Buy consensus on ASML shares, based on six Buy ratings issued over the past three months. The average 12-month price target of $2,468 implies roughly 44% upside from current levels.
The coordinated move toward larger masks and next-generation EUV tools underscores how chipmakers are aligning equipment roadmaps to meet surging demand for AI silicon. For ASML, the agreements secure a multi-year pipeline of orders from the industry’s heaviest spenders on semiconductor manufacturing equipment.