Recently, at the SEMICON Taiwan 2026 IC Forum, global lithography giant ASML provided detailed disclosures on the latest core data and technological progress of its High-NA EUV (High Numerical Aperture Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography machines as they advance toward high-volume manufacturing (HVM).
Regarding production scale and equipment delivery, ASML announced that four customers worldwide have completed installations, with a total of 10 High-NA EUV systems now fully operational. An additional three systems are currently in the shipping and installation phase. To date, these machines have cumulatively exposed over 1.35 million wafers, marking the technology's transition from experimental validation to full-scale industrial application. Notably, Intel has taken the lead by utilizing this technology to mass-produce certain Core Ultra Series 3 processors (codenamed Panther Lake) on its Intel 18A process node, becoming the first company globally to achieve high-volume shipments of logic chips using High-NA EUV.
In terms of equipment performance and stability, the first-generation mass-production model, the EXE:5200B, has achieved a throughput of 135 wafers per hour (WPH) during acceptance testing, meeting HVM standards. Meanwhile, the global fleet availability rate has increased to 84%. ASML projects this rate will reach 90% by the end of 2026, with a long-term target of 93%. By leveraging maintenance experience from its existing NXE platform, ASML has ensured that the overlay and focus performance of the machines meet stringent mass-production requirements.
Concerning technological advantages and future roadmaps, compared to the previous 0.33 NA EUV systems, the 0.55 NA High-NA EUV offers superior resolution. It enables single-patterning to replace complex multi-patterning, directly reducing defect rates, production cycle times, and overall costs for advanced nodes. Furthermore, this technology opens up new design spaces for 2D chip layouts, potentially reducing the total number of metal interconnect layers. Looking ahead, ASML has established a stable technology roadmap spanning over a decade. By increasing EUV light source power (from 600W to 1000W) and optimizing other mechanical processes, the company aims to boost equipment throughput to 180 WPH by the end of this decade, continuing to provide core support for semiconductor manufacturing from the 2nm node into the Angstrom era.
