{"id":17851,"date":"2026-06-01T12:31:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/17851\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T12:31:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:31:06","slug":"nikon-leveraging-arf-scanner-price-to-challenge-asml","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/17851\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikon Leveraging ArF Scanner Price to Challenge ASML"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\/\/php echo do_shortcode(‘[responsivevoice_button voice=”US English Male” buttontext=”Listen to Post”]’) ?><\/p>\n

Nikon is making waves by announcing plans to lower the price of its lithography equipment by manufacturing several parts in-house to reduce overall costs. CEO Yasuhiro Ohmura, who took charge in April this year, told Nikkei Asia that Nikon is talking to several large chipmakers in the United States and Asia about supplying argon fluoride (ArF) tools, and some discussions are nearing purchase orders.<\/p>\n

The company also plans to launch a new ArF immersion platform\u2014featuring a new lens and wafer stage\u2014by 2028 while also building compatibility with ASML\u2019s lithography tools<\/a>. That\u2019s crucial because, while price matters, problems arise when fab engineers try to align a layer on a Nikon tool back to a layer patterned with an ASML tool.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to note that while ASML enjoys a monopoly position in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, ArF immersion is a part of mature deep ultraviolet (DUV) technology. However, even 3-nm process nodes run many patterning steps on ArF immersion. In other words, this mature part of the DUV process remains important even for advanced chips.<\/p>\n

ASML directly competes with Japan\u2019s Canon and Nikon in older DUV lithography equipment. However, ASML and Nikon are the only two firms that build ArF lithography equipment. Although their scanner technology roadmaps are completely different.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Vicinity<\/a><\/p>\n

By Vicinity Technologies Limited\u00a0 05.27.2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"GUC<\/a><\/p>\n

By GLOBAL UNICHIP CORP. (GUC)\u00a0 05.26.2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Realising<\/a><\/p>\n

By Steve Mansfield-Devine\u00a0 05.25.2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\"A<\/a>The NSR-S625E ArF immersion scanner features a resolution of 38 nm, a numerical aperture of 1.35, and a 193-nm excimer laser. (Source: Nikon)The upside<\/p>\n

There\u2019s broad consensus among industry watchers that ASML won\u2019t lose sleep over Nikon\u2019s DUV equipment sales. The real challenge will be if Nikon manages to build EUV machines, which are highly complex marvels of system engineering.<\/p>\n

Some industry observers call Nikon the next Intel, whose foundry bet was eventually rescued by a lack of fab capacity, while TSMC still dominates the chip contact manufacturing business. They reckon that Nikon\u2019s move to lower prices of lithography solutions could help the fab equipment shortage caused by the supply backlog from ASML.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s another dimension favoring Nikon: a single company having a monopoly on lithographic machines for semiconductor fabs is a red flag for the hypercompetitive chip industry. So, competition matters in the lithography market even if Nikon is years behind. And even when all three mega-fabs\u2014Intel, Samsung, and TSMC\u2014are shareholders of ASML.<\/p>\n

The downside<\/p>\n

For a start, as several market analysts note, price is largely irrelevant for the commercial specs of lithography machines. They point out that Nikon\u2019s immersion scanners are already priced a double-digit percentage below ASML\u2019s equivalent offering, and that Nikon\u2019s market share is still declining.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one reason why Nikon intends to develop a completely new immersion scanner platform that\u2019s technically competitive with an ASML scanner. Nikon\u2019s upcoming scanner will incorporate a new projection lens to match ASML\u2019s mask mirroring. The current masks in Nikon\u2019s scanner can\u2019t be shared with ASML.<\/p>\n

The upcoming scanner will also introduce a new wafer stage to enable correction of wafer stage hardware, allowing fabs to stop using multiple sets of scanners. However, as mentioned above, this new scanner is planned for launch by 2028, and a lot could change in the highly competitive lithography landscape during this period.<\/p>\n

Next comes the entrenchment factor. Fabs like TSMC have a long track record of working with ASML, and these fabs have acquired a deep technical expertise in integrating ASML components and systems into their manufacturing ecosystems. What if a lower-cost machine costs twice as much to integrate, or if it doesn\u2019t achieve the required yield?<\/p>\n

Finally, as many in the industry point out, Nikon\u2019s rise and fall mirrors what happened to the Japanese semiconductor industry at large over the past two decades or so. In retrospect, Japanese chipmakers and semiconductor equipment makers such as Canon and Nikon declined together. Can Nikon defy this downward trend?<\/p>\n

A quest for turnaround<\/p>\n

At a time when lithography is rapidly evolving, Nikon is making a bet on revival through close collaboration with key suppliers and research labs. But can it put a reverse to ASML\u2019s \u201cwinner takes it all\u201d story in the lithography world? Especially after losing the DUV race to ASML, now an undisputed leader with more than 8,000 semiconductor lithography systems installed worldwide?<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Nikon needs a turnaround, and ASML\u2019s advanced ArF immersion system, priced at around $82.5 million, smells like an opportunity. Add to this the fact that a few DUV machines usually accompany every EUV machine. Nikon\u2019s strategic pivot to aggressively compete on price could also enable fabs to negotiate more effectively with ASML.<\/p>\n

Nikon is positioning itself as a second-source option for semiconductor fabs that don\u2019t want to rely only on ASML. It will be interesting to see if Nikon can attract fabs with lower equipment costs and a second-source option.<\/p>\n

See also:<\/p>\n

ASML Aims for Hyper-NA EUV, Shrinking Chip Limits<\/a><\/p>\n

TI to deploy immersion litho, evaluates ASML, Nikon<\/a>China EUV Breakthrough and the Rise of the \u2018Silicon Curtain\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

DUV<\/a>, EUV<\/a>, EUV LITHOGRAPHY<\/a>, LITHOGRAPHY<\/a>, SEMICONDUCTORS<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n

ASML<\/a>, CANON<\/a>, INTEL<\/a>, NIKON<\/a>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\/\/php echo do_shortcode(‘[responsivevoice_button voice=”US English Male” buttontext=”Listen to Post”]’) ?> Nikon is making waves by announcing plans to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[65,2114,522,2041,517,1455],"class_list":["post-17851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-asml","tag-asml","tag-duv","tag-euv","tag-euv-lithography","tag-lithography","tag-semiconductors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}