ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet expects the first chip products manufactured on the new High-NA EUV machines within a few months. He made this statement during ITF World, an event organized by the imec research institute in Belgium. The machines, which cost up to $400 million each, are nevertheless too expensive, according to TSMC.
TSMC announced its contrarian stance a few weeks ago. Fouquet does not seem too impressed by this for the time being. The High-NA EUV lithography machines are intended to enable the further miniaturization and acceleration of future chips. They allow companies such as Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Samsung, SK Hynix, and others to create smaller and more complex circuits than was possible with the previous generation of EUV machines.
With the new generation, ASML aims to structurally reduce production costs for advanced chips, for both memory and logic applications. However, this comes with sky-high acquisition costs.
TSMC opts for existing EUV
TSMC presented two new manufacturing processes last month but deliberately chose not to use ASML’s High-NA EUV variant for either. The Taiwanese chip giant prefers to maximize the use of existing EUV machines.
Kevin Zhang, deputy co-chief operations officer at TSMC, described this as a strength of the company’s own R&D. That choice stands in stark contrast to Intel, which is aiming for an early advantage based on the use of High-NA EUV equipment. This can be partly explained by an earlier era when the roles were reversed. Over a decade ago, Intel chose to continue with the older DUV technology, while TSMC saw EUV as an opportunity to build a lead. That strategy succeeded. Intel’s mistake became crystal clear within a few years, as it remained stuck with an older process while TSMC won over customer after customer.
Intel and SK Hynix Already Active
In 2026, not all chipmakers are hesitant about ASML’s High-NA EUV machines. Last year, SK Hynix became the first chipmaker in the world to assemble a commercial High-NA EUV system in a production environment. It also signed an $8 billion deal with ASML. And Intel reports that its first two High-NA machines are now in production and have already processed some 300,000 wafers.