ASML is now creating a machine that could redefine electronics

[superadmin]

The Dutch firm that investors are going wild over is now creating a machine that could redefine electronics

• The Dutch firm, one of Europe’s hottest stocks, is working on a new version of its extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, which is used to carve patterns onto pieces of silicon that form the most advanced chips in the world.
  
• The new version could allow chipmakers to build even more sophisticated chips to power the next generation of electronic devices.
  
• In July, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company expects to be the first recipient of ASML’s new machine, dubbed High NA.
  

Dutch firm ASML, one of Europe’s hottest stocks, is working on a new version of its extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, which is used to carve patterns onto pieces of silicon that form the most advanced chips in the world.

Headquartered in Veldhoven, a small village near the Dutch city of Eindhoven, ASML is the only firm in the world capable of making these highly complex EUV machines — but it’s not stopping there.

The company’s current EUV machine is used by TSMC, Samsung and Intel to make chips that end up in the latest crop of computers and smartphones. But there’s a new version of the EUV machine in the pipeline, dubbed High NA, that could allow chipmakers to build even more sophisticated chips to power the next generation of electronic devices. NA stands for numerical aperture.

ASML was born in 1984 when electronics giant Philips and chip-machine manufacturer Advanced Semiconductor Materials International decided to create a new company to develop lithography systems for the growing semiconductor industry. Called ASM Lithography, the company began its work inauspiciously — in a shed next to a Philips office in Eindhoven.

Today, ASML is valued at $329 billion, and some tech investors expect it to be worth $500 billion by the end of 2022. It is the biggest tech company in Europe by market value and one of the biggest in the world. It employs over 31,000 employees across the Netherlands, the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China.

- More -