Intel is taking another of ASML’s High NA tools, says CEO
10:15 am Monday, August 05th, 2024
By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Intel is in the process of receiving the second of ASML’s new 350 million euro ($383 million) “High NA” EUV tools, CEO Pat Gelsinger said, according to a transcript of the company’s Aug. 1 earnings call.
Intel began receiving the first of the massive machines, which take months to install and are expected to enable new generations of more powerful computer chips, in December.
“The second High NA tool is coming into our Oregon facility,” Gelsinger said on the call, adding that the company’s technology investments are “showing good early indicators”.
The remark did not draw attention amid Intel’s dramatic slump on worries about its turnaround prospects.
ASML, the biggest supplier of equipment to computer chip makers, declined to comment on specific customer purchases.
Executives at ASML said on July 17 the company had begun shipping a second High NA tool to an unnamed customer, and that it will only book revenues for the first, and possibly the second, this year.
A successful introduction of High NA is key to ASML’s future as Europe’s largest technology firm, but there is some doubt as to when exactly customers will adopt it.
The company has orders for more than a dozen High NA machines from leading chipmakers TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and memory chip specialists SK Hynix and Micron.
Intel plans to use the technology in commercial production by 2027. TSMC, which makes chips for Nvidia and Apple, will receive a tool this year but has not said when it will use it in production.
ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said on July 17 that DRAM memory chip makers – meaning Samsung, SK Hynix or Micron – may begin using High NA in 2025 or 2026.
($1 = 0.9137 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Jan Harvey)
