TSMC Delays Procurement of ASML's State-of-the-Art Lithography Equipment

TSMC's decision to postpone the adoption of ASML's cutting-edge lithography equipment casts a shadow over the commercialization process of the Dutch equipment giant.

TSMC's Co-Chief Operating Officer Kevin Zhang stated that the company currently has no plans to use ASML's High-NA EUV lithography for chip mass production, a decision that will likely extend to at least 2029.

The unit price of this equipment is over €350 million (about $410 million) and is considered the most advanced equipment in the field of semiconductor manufacturing.

ASML anticipates that the High-NA EUV equipment will enter mass production applications between 2027 and 2028, and based on this, has set a revenue target of up to €60 billion for 2030.

TSMC is ASML's largest customer, and its purchasing decisions directly affect the market's judgment on the commercialization pace of this equipment. At the same time, since TSMC is the world's largest purchaser of semiconductor equipment, its technological choices have a broad demonstration effect on the entire industry.

Affected by this news, ASML's stock price fell by 2% in the short term.

Cost is the Main Consideration

Kevin Zhang, in an interview with journalists, clearly stated that TSMC will continue to explore the value of existing EUV technology. He直言ed that the next-generation High-NA EUV equipment is "very, very expensive," conveying the company's current logic of capital allocation.

At the same time, Kevin Zhang announced that TSMC's cutting-edge process A13 chip will officially go into mass production in 2029.

This milestone also happens to be the time boundary set by the company for temporarily not adopting High-NA EUV, further indicating TSMC's ample confidence in the existing EUV.

ASML's Commercialization Expectations Under Pressure

Currently, TSMC has purchased a small number of High-NA EUV units, but they are only used for research and development and have not been applied to mass production.

Given TSMC's size and influence in the semiconductor industry—it has the largest new plant and equipment budget, and its manufacturing processes are often emulated by its peers—this decision could affect the entire industry's equipment demand timeline.

While delaying the introduction of High-NA EUV, TSMC has not abandoned its goal of improving chip performance. Kevin Zhang stated that the company is exploring ways to enhance chip computing power without using High-NA EUV equipment.