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Technology Stocks : ASML Holding NV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (1033)	11/17/2005 8:11:29 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 43331

ASML has 16 orders for latest chip-making tools Thu Nov 17, 2005 07:09 AM ET BARCELONA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Dutch chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV (ASML.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) (ASML.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has eight firm orders in backlog for its latest and most expensive immersion lithography machines, plus orders pending for eight more, it said on Thursday. In a slide presentation on its website for an investor conference in Barcelona, the world's largest maker of chip lithography machines, which map out electronic circuits on silicon wafers, also said it expected to ship the first of those systems to a customer in the first quarter of 2006. The system is the only chip lithography machine commercially available that can produce chips in the 45 nanometre specification, which enables much thinner circuits and hence smaller chips, or same-sized chips with more functionality. ASML reiterated it expects to ship 20 to 25 immersion tools in 2006. They cost between 25 million and 30 million euros ($29 million-$35 million) each, and are in great demand from makers of flash memory now used in cellphones and digital music players. As flash memories become more powerful, chip makers expect they will be used in new applications. These include personal computers, where they will enable instant switching on, because flash memory chips remember their data even when power is off. Immersion refers to a water-like liquid between the lens and the silicon wafer, which allows higher depth of focus. This is the reason the circuits can be thinner than with traditional chip making lithography that uses no water. The lens is the heart of a lithography machine and chief executive Eric Meurice said in the presentation that the first lens of the so-called Twinscan XT:1700 machine had been received. ASML competes with Japan's Nikon Corp. (7731.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Canon Inc. (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research) . Nikon has also announced immersion tools. ASML's customers include the world's largest chip maker Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (2330.TW: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's largest contract chip maker. ASML shares were 0.3 percent down at 1200 GMT, underperforming a 0.6 percent higher Eurotech index .