Everything you state here has great merit. Intel does not necessarily order the best equipment. Intel orders the equipment they want because they can afford it. The decision is always based on a bit of ego. The best equipment is not necessarily the most cost effective equipment.
I find it hard to drive home the point of cost effective. When you run as high a margin on products as Intel does, you can use whatever equipment is necessary to get the job done correctly. So, even if the SVGL is the BEST, the majority of end users that have lower margins for product they manufacture, need to balance cost and cost effectiveness versus what can BEST do the job.
The best way to make 0.25u or below devices is to use DUV lithography at all layers. This is an overkill and extremely expensive. INTC can do it if they want. 90% of the industry cannot do it or they will go under. INTC has never put together a cost effective operation, IMHO. They are a breed unto themselves.
When Charter Semiconductor, Winbond, Taiwan Semiconductor, WaferTech, and other larger foundries or even large DRAM producers chose equipment, I look at it more closely than what IBM or INTC buys. The success will come not from selling Corvettes to millionaires buy Chevys to the masses<GGG>.
BTW - I think as you that ASML is overvalued. I am not sure if it is grossly overvalued. Then again, the Top Tier Equipment and IC Manufacturing stocks we follow are overvalued as a group. Then again, they are properly valued when compared the Internet stocks<GGG>.
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