Jul. 29, 2024 –
Semiconductor equipment industry sources, citing the High-NA EUV roadmap developed by TSMC, pointed out that TSMC's A14 process (1.4nm) will undergo risky trial production in the first half of 2026, with volume production as early as the third quarter of 2027, and that the initial phase of volume production will still primarily use ASML's third-generation standard EUV equipment, NXE:3800E.
It is expected that in 2028, A14P, a modified and upgraded version of the A14 process, will formally adopt High-NA EUVs, including EXE:5000 and EXE:5200, while High-NA EUVs will be fully introduced in the A10 process after 2030.
In May 2024, TSMC Chairman Chieh-Chia Wei led a team of company executives to visit ASML's headquarters in the Netherlands. The visit was aimed at getting a better understanding of the High-NA EUV system, which sells for $380 million each, the sources said. The TSMC team also met with several supply chain companies to discuss maintenance and parts supply, the sources said.
Currently, TSMC has an overwhelming advantage in the foundry market and is the largest customer for ASML EUV equipment. TSMC's 3nm chip production has reached full capacity, and orders for its 2nm process continue to come in, with volume production expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2024, the sources said. TSMC's current wave of EUV orders is expected to reach about 70 units of equipment, the sources added.
The sources said TSMC also agreed with ASML on equipment purchase discounts and finalized plans for process and technology advancements over the next five years.
Intel, for its part, has also been making advanced process advances, and in April 2024, Intel announced that its foundry business unit, Intel Foundry, had completed the assembly of the industry's first high-NA EUV lithography equipment at the company's research and development campus in Hillsboro, Oregon. The device will undergo multiple calibrations before going into volume production in 2027 to support Intel's 14A process. (Proofreader/Li Mei)