Top chipmakers embrace ASML’s $400M machines, agree to crucial chipmaking change

顶级芯片制造商拥抱阿斯麦（ASML）4亿美元光刻机，并就关键制造工艺达成共识

Leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced plans to adopt ASML’s latest chipmaking machines in the next several years—and they also joined Intel in agreeing to a crucial technology change that could boost chip production on the new machines by 40 percent. 三星电子（Samsung Electronics）和台积电（TSMC）等领先芯片制造商宣布，计划在未来几年内采用阿斯麦（ASML）最新的芯片制造设备。同时，他们还与英特尔（Intel）达成一致，将进行一项关键的技术变革，有望将这些新机器的芯片产能提升40%。

This signifies the semiconductor industry’s broader embrace of high NA EUV photolithography technology that can cost up to $400 million per machine and is only provided by the Dutch technology company ASML, Bloomberg reports. The technology would allow chip designers to implement even smaller features in potentially more powerful and efficient next-generation chips produced for AI data centers and consumer electronics such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. 据彭博社报道，这标志着半导体行业正更广泛地拥抱高数值孔径（High NA）极紫外（EUV）光刻技术。该设备单台造价高达4亿美元，且仅由荷兰科技公司阿斯麦独家供应。这项技术将使芯片设计人员能够在为人工智能数据中心及智能手机、平板电脑和笔记本电脑等消费电子产品生产的下一代芯片中，实现更精细的电路特征，从而提升芯片的性能与能效。

ASML’s EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography machines enable chipmakers to use powerful laser light to imprint patterns in silicon wafers, layer by layer, and gradually form the computer circuitry that makes silicon chips work. Compared to older deep ultraviolet lithography, EUV technology harnesses a more powerful source of light with a shorter wavelength to create even smaller features on silicon wafers. 阿斯麦的EUV（极紫外）光刻机使芯片制造商能够利用强大的激光，在硅片上逐层印制图案，从而逐步形成驱动硅芯片工作的计算机电路。与传统的深紫外（DUV）光刻技术相比，EUV技术利用波长更短、能量更强的光源，能够在硅片上刻画出更微小的特征。

This has necessitated development of an incredibly complex system of lasers that is continually zapping molten tin into plasma with temperatures around 200,000° C, along with mirrors collecting light from the plasma and redirecting it into a “bus-size” lithography tool for projecting the intricate circuitry patterns onto the silicon wafers, ASML researchers wrote for IEEE Spectrum. ASML’s newest high-numerical-aperture (high NA) EUV machines use bigger mirrors and an improved optical system to more precisely collect and focus light. 阿斯麦的研究人员在《IEEE Spectrum》上撰文指出，这需要开发一套极其复杂的激光系统，不断将熔融锡滴击打成温度高达20万摄氏度的等离子体；同时，还需要通过反射镜收集等离子体发出的光，并将其引导至一台“公交车大小”的光刻设备中，将复杂的电路图案投射到硅片上。阿斯麦最新的高数值孔径（High NA）EUV光刻机采用了更大的反射镜和改进的光学系统，能够更精确地收集和聚焦光线。

South Korea’s Samsung plans to use ASML’s high NA EUV machines in producing memory chips by 2028. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s TSMC aims to use the technology for manufacturing the most advanced chips for its customers—including companies like AMD, Apple, Nvidia, and Qualcomm—starting in 2030. Intel has already begun adopting high-NA EUV machines in chip manufacturing. The US company has used the technology in high-volume manufacturing of Panther Lake processors for mobile computing devices starting in July 2026. 韩国三星计划在2028年前利用阿斯麦的高数值孔径EUV光刻机生产存储芯片。与此同时，台积电计划从2030年开始，利用该技术为其客户（包括AMD、苹果、英伟达和高通等公司）制造最先进的芯片。英特尔则已开始在芯片制造中采用高数值孔径EUV设备，并于2026年7月起，将该技术应用于移动计算设备Panther Lake处理器的量产中。

Industry moves on as China races to catch up

行业持续演进，中国加速追赶

Samsung and TSMC are also now working with Intel and ASML to change the chipmaking standard for photomasks—the stencils that provide the intricate circuitry patterns imprinted onto silicon—from 6-inch photomasks to 12-inch photomasks. That shift could eventually improve the chipmaking productivity of high NA EUV machines by 40 percent, ASML chief technology officer Marco Pieters told Bloomberg. 三星和台积电目前正与英特尔及阿斯麦合作，将光掩模（即用于在硅片上印制复杂电路图案的模板）的制造标准从6英寸升级为12英寸。阿斯麦首席技术官马可·皮特斯（Marco Pieters）向彭博社表示，这一转变最终有望将高数值孔径EUV光刻机的芯片生产效率提高40%。

The South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix is also considering joining the industry consortium overseeing the switch to the larger 12-inch photomasks, a spokesperson told Bloomberg. Like Samsung, SK Hynix is also aiming to start making memory chips using the high NA EUV technology starting in 2028. 韩国存储芯片制造商SK海力士（SK Hynix）的一位发言人告诉彭博社，该公司也在考虑加入负责监督向12英寸光掩模过渡的行业联盟。与三星一样，SK海力士也计划从2028年开始利用高数值孔径EUV技术生产存储芯片。

Improved production of chips has become a business imperative for as long as the AI bubble continues to inflate. Tech companies’ rush to construct new AI data centers has also contributed to a global shortage of memory chips that has increased the prices of smartphones, laptops, and gaming machines. 只要人工智能泡沫持续膨胀，提高芯片产量就已成为企业的当务之急。科技公司竞相建设新的人工智能数据中心，也加剧了全球存储芯片的短缺，导致智能手机、笔记本电脑和游戏设备的价格上涨。

Meanwhile, the importance of ASML machines for advanced chipmaking has also become a key issue in the ongoing tech competition between the United States and China. ASML still supplies Chinese companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) with older-generation deep-ultraviolet lithography machines but has been blocked from exporting most of its chipmaking machines to China under Dutch government restrictions and US political pressure. 与此同时，阿斯麦设备在先进芯片制造中的重要性，已成为中美科技竞争中的核心议题。阿斯麦目前仍向中芯国际（SMIC）等中国企业供应老一代的深紫外（DUV）光刻机，但在荷兰政府的限制和美国的政治压力下，其大部分芯片制造设备已被禁止出口到中国。

Despite unproven US government allegations that China managed to obtain one of ASML’s EUV lithography machines, Chinese companies face an uphill battle in developing a homegrown version of the technology and the supply chain necessary to support production of such machines. An executive at Germany’s Zeiss Group, the exclusive supplier of the mirrors and optical systems used in ASML machines, recently predicted that China would need 15 years to develop EUV lithography machines. 尽管美国政府曾指控中国设法获取了一台阿斯麦的EUV光刻机（但该指控未经证实），但中国企业在自主研发该技术以及构建支持此类设备生产的供应链方面，仍面临着艰巨的挑战。作为阿斯麦设备反射镜和光学系统独家供应商，德国蔡司集团（Zeiss Group）的一位高管近期预测，中国需要15年时间才能研发出EUV光刻机。