The semiconductor industry's argument over ASML's next generation of lithography equipment is moving from whether High-NA EUV will be adopted to when each major manufacturer will put it into production. That is a consequential shift for ASML. High-NA systems cost roughly $400 million each, around twice the price of current EUV tools, and their commercial success underpins the Dutch company's technological lead into the next decade.
What the evidence establishes
Samsung and ASML said on 8 September that Samsung plans to introduce High-NA EUV into future DRAM manufacturing and will join an initiative around a larger 12-inch photomask platform. Reuters reports that Samsung and SK Hynix plan high-volume use from 2028, while TSMC has committed to production use from 2030. Intel, the earliest adopter, says it has already processed more than one million wafers with High-NA equipment. The systems can print features about 40% smaller than standard EUV.
The commercial reading
High-NA matters because advanced chipmakers are running out of easy ways to shrink features. Better packaging and three-dimensional stacking can extend performance, but they do not remove the value of finer lithography. If manufacturers can reduce multi-patterning steps, the expensive tool can still improve process economics. For the Netherlands, adoption also strengthens an ecosystem extending from ASML into precision suppliers, optics, mechatronics, research and the expanding Brainport manufacturing base.
What to watch next
The next milestones are throughput, uptime and cost per processed wafer in high-volume manufacturing. Samsung's 2028 memory target is particularly important because memory producers have different economics from logic foundries. Broad adoption across both markets would make High-NA less a specialist technology and more the next industry standard.
How to use this analysis
Technology investment should be tested against deployed capacity, active customers and recurring revenue. Patents, licences, pilots and funding rounds are intermediate evidence. They can be important without proving that a product has reached commercial scale or that an announced facility is operating at its intended load.
Source and verification note
The reporting base for this article is Samsung Semiconductor: Samsung and ASML expand High-NA collaboration and Reuters: ASML customers embrace High NA. The link is provided to the source page or release so readers can check the reporting period, definitions and later revisions. Figures are not extended beyond the source's geographic or institutional scope, and forecasts remain labelled as expectations until an official release records the outcome.