Dutch company ASML has unveiled a new chip-making machine that weighs as much as two Airbus A320 planes and is worth $350 million.
Currently, Intel has placed an order for the so-called High-NA (high-intensity ultraviolet scanner) and will receive the first device in late December 2024. Blue Team plans to unveil chips made with the new equipment by late 2025.
Based on ASML specification, the High-NA EUV device can print eight nanometer thick lines on semiconductors; As a result, it will be possible to make transistors with dimensions 1.7 times smaller and 2.9 times higher density than the best chips today. New technology is likely to affect CPU prices in the future.
The narrower the lines, the more transistors can be placed in the chip, and the more transistors, the faster the processing speed. For this reason, ASML executives said the system will be essential for AI processors; Because they need more processing power.
ASML is the only company that produces the equipment needed to make the most advanced chips, and the demand for its products is extremely high. In the last quarter, the Dutch company moved the record of the most EUV device orders, which shows the need for this product from the biggest chipmakers such as Intel, Samsung and TSMC.
Monique Molesthe spokesperson of ASML, announced during a media visit to the company’s headquarters in Veldhoven that the installation of the first High-NA EUV machine weighing 150,000 kg was done with the efforts of 250 engineers in 6 months.
The emergence of generative AI in the past year, which began with ChatGPT leading the way in late 2022, has raised expectations for chip companies. The low-NA EUV machines that ASML has been selling since 2018 cost €170 million ($183 million).
