ASML says top chip machines already in production.
VELDHOVEN, Netherlands, June 2 (Reuters) - Dutch chip equipment maker ASML said on Friday its most advanced immersion lithography equipment was being used by customers for commercial production.
"We now have 15 machines outside with customers. Today they are being used for commercial production, but not in large volumes," Martin van den Brink, ASML's executive vice president for marketing and technology, told journalists.
Immersion lithography machines sell for up to 30 million euros ($38 million) apiece, and use water between the lens and the silicon wafer to increase depth of focus.
This allows chip makers to project smaller features and thinner circuits, and thus more chips on one silicon wafer, which increases productivity and enables them to cut prices.
ASML, which is planning to ship 20 to 25 immersion machines this year, is the world's largest maker of semiconductor lithography machines which are the heart of the chip making process. It has a market share of more than 50 percent in value terms and competes with Nikon Corp and Canon Inc from Japan.
The real volume production machines which bring all of the immersion benefits are called 1700i systems, but even some of the earlier 1500i test machines are used for commercial production of special chips with demanding features that need to be very accurate, he added.
Memory chip makers are the first customers for the 1700 series, because they face constant price erosion in this commodity segment. Only the most advanced machines, even when they are more expensive, can help them cut production costs.
Van den Brink said manufacturers of logic chips, which power consumer electronics devices such as cell phones and televisions, were getting less complacent about investing in new equipment as they face increasing competition from design houses that use contract manufacturers to bake their chips.
These design houses, such as TSMC from Taiwan already have the most advanced machines to serve demanding memory chip customers, and can use the same machines to make smaller and therefore cheaper logic chips.
ASML's customers include the world's largest chip maker Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing , the world's largest contract chip maker. |
