Both leading foundries commit to High-NA EUV
~ 2026-09-08ASML / TSMC / Samsung (Intel already deployed)
TSMC and Samsung committed to using ASML's High-NA EUV scanners — Samsung by 2028, TSMC by 2030 — ending the question of whether the leading foundries would adopt the tool or route around it with multipatterning. Intel got there first and is already running High-NA. The same week the three joined an ASML initiative to move photomasks from today's 6-inch format to 12-inch, targeting a pilot line in 2031 and advanced-node production in 2033. The mask size is the real constraint: Intel's SPIE data shows that stitching two exposures, which today's masks force at High-NA field sizes, cuts scanner output from about 175 wafers per hour to about 125 — a ~30% productivity loss.
