ASML says its next-generation EUV equipment is now ready for mass production, marking a critical turning point for AI chip manufacturing.

According to Reuters, an ASML executive revealed that the company’s next-generation chip-manufacturing equipment is now ready, and chipmakers can begin mass production. This undoubtedly marks a significant milestone in the development of the semiconductor industry.

As the world’s only Dutch company that manufactures commercial extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, ASML’s machines are critical to chipmakers. According to ASML data, this new equipment will help major chip manufacturers such as TSMC and Intel streamline a series of costly and complex manufacturing steps, enabling them to produce more powerful and efficient chips.

On February 25, ASML Chief Technology Officer Marco Pieters told Reuters that the company plans to release relevant data at a technology conference scheduled for Thursday in San Jose. This move marks the achievement of a key milestone.

This high-cost, next-generation equipment has undergone years of research and development. During this period, chip manufacturers have been constantly weighing the timing of its mass production launch to ensure economic feasibility.

As existing-generation EUV equipment gradually hits technical bottlenecks in the manufacturing of complex AI chips, the next-generation High-NA EUV (high-numerical-aperture extreme ultraviolet) equipment is of great significance to the AI industry. Not only will it help enhance the capabilities of chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but it will also enable chipmakers to roll out AI chips on schedule, meeting the rapidly growing market demand.

It is reported that these new devices cost about 400 million U.S. dollars each, twice the price of the first-generation EUV equipment.

Pieters stated that ASML’s data shows that the High-NA EUV equipment currently has limited downtime, has already produced 500,000 silicon wafers the size of dinner plates, and is capable of patterning features fine enough to form chip circuits. Taken together, these three pieces of data indicate that the equipment has reached a level of maturity ready for manufacturers to begin using it in production.

He pointed out: “I believe we’re at a critical juncture right now, one that allows us to take stock of the volume of learning cycles that have already been completed.” Here, what he’s referring to is the number of times customers have tested the device.

Although the equipment is technically ready, companies will still need two to three years to conduct thorough testing and development before integrating it into actual manufacturing processes.

Pieters said, “(Chip manufacturers) already possess all the knowledge necessary to verify these devices.”

He also revealed that the current equipment availability rate is around 80%, and the company aims to increase it to 90% by the end of the year. The imaging data soon to be released by ASML will be sufficient to convince customers to adopt the single-step High-NA process, replacing the multiple steps required by older-generation equipment. Moreover, the 500,000 wafers already processed by the equipment have enabled the company to successfully identify and resolve many early-stage issues.