Intel Corp yesterday said it has placed its first order with ASML Holding NV to purchase the semiconductor industry’s first TWINSCAN EXE: 5200 system, as the US chip giant aims to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in advancing to 2-nanometer process technology.
The Dutch semiconductor equipment maker’s TWINSCAN EXE:5200 system is an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) high-volume production system with a high numerical aperture (NA) that can produce 220 wafers per hour, more than the 150 wafers that its previous generation TWINSCAN EXE:5000 system can handle.
ASML aims to launch the new system in 2024.
Photo: Reuters
ASML president and chief technology officer Martin van den Brink said in a statement that the new system “delivers continued lithographic improvements at reduced complexity, cost, cycle time and energy that the chip industry needs to drive affordable scaling well into the next decade.”
Announcing the deal in a statement, Intel executive vice president and general manager of technology development Ann Kelleher said: “Working closely with ASML, we will harness high-NA EUV’s high-resolution patterning as one of the ways we continue Moore’s Law and maintain our strong history of progression down to the smallest of geometries.”
Intel was the first to purchase the TWINSCAN EXE:5000 system in 2018.
The company said that the new purchase reflects its continued collaboration with ASML and marks the beginning of its production with the new technology in 2025.
TSMC is also likely to buy the TWINSCAN EXE:5200 system and is expected to be the first in the industry to introduce 2-nanometer production, a supply chain source told the Taipei Times yesterday.
“Placing the first order does not mean Intel will be the first to massively produce chips with the tool,” the source said, adding that Intel still has a long way to go before catching up with TSMC in commercializing 2-nanometer technology.
TSMC’s 2-nanometer chips would enter the market in 2025, the firm said, adding that the chips would be the highest-performing chips available.
Separately, ASML yesterday said that it did not expect a factory fire in Germany to disrupt output.
The fire at its Berlin facility early this month was extinguished within two hours, and the company still expects to ship about 55 EUV systems this year, it said.
“We were able to put the fire out in a couple of hours, but still there was significant damage,” ASML chief executive officer Peter Wennink said in a statement. “Because of the hard work and the creativity, we currently believe that we can manage the situation and that we will not see a significant impact on our EUV output in the year 2022.”
Wennink said demand is 40 to 50 percent above the ASML’s maximum capacity, and it would take “two to three years to get a nice balance between supply and demand.”
The firm’s shipments would increase next year, he added.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last