ASML wants to expand its dominant position in the chip market. The Dutch company is working on new equipment for advanced packaging and larger chips. CTO Marco Pieters is looking ten to fifteen years ahead and sees opportunities in the rapidly growing market for AI chips.
ASML wants to further expand its position in the chip market, Pieters told Reuters in an interview. The company, which has been the sole manufacturer of EUV (extreme ultraviolet) machines for more than ten years, has plans to develop new machines for the production of AI chips.
Pieters, who took over as CTO in October last year after Martin van den Brink’s departure after forty years, is looking far ahead. “We look, not just for the next five years, we look at the next 10, maybe 15 years,” says Pieters. The focus is on advanced packaging and a possible expansion of the chip size that ASML’s machines can handle.
From flat to stacked
The reason for this is evident in how AI chips have changed. Whereas designers such as Nvidia and AMD built chips as a flat, simple layer for years, they are now stacked with nanometer-sized connections between the layers. This requires a different production method.
Advanced packaging, the interconnection and stacking of specialized chips, has long been a low-cost volume process. But due to the precision required, it has become a strategic part of the production of the most advanced Nvidia AI chips for companies such as TSMC. “We’re actually researching that – to what extent can we participate in it, or what we can add to that part of the business,” says Pieters. “Accuracy is becoming more and more important.”
ASML is already responding to this trend. Last year, the company announced the XT:260, a production line for advanced memory modules for AI. This device is said to be up to four times more productive than existing solutions. Pieters indicates that engineers are already working on additional machines.
New products for the AI market
ASML is also investigating whether it can increase the maximum chip size of its machines. Currently, this is still limited to the size of a postage stamp, which limits production speed. Larger chips can perform more calculations simultaneously, which the most advanced AI models require.
Pieters points to the knowledge ASML has built up around optics and handling silicon wafers. This expertise gives the company an advantage in developing new machines, in addition to the existing EUV line.
At the same time, the company is working on the next generation of EUV: High-NA EUV, all of which went to Intel in 2024. A third generation is already in the research phase.