Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) executives on Thursday said that it would obtain the next version of ASML Holding NV’s most advanced chipmaking tool in 2024.
The tool — called “high-NA EUV” — produces beams of focused light that create the microscopic circuitry on computer chips used in phones, laptops, vehicles and artificial intelligence devices, such as smart speakers.
EUV stands for extreme ultraviolet, the wavelength of light used by ASML’s most advanced machines.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
“TSMC will bring in high-NA EUV scanners in 2024 to develop the associated infrastructure and patterning solution needed for customers to fuel innovation,” TSMC senior vice president of research and development Y.J. Mii (米玉傑) said at the company’s technology symposium in Silicon Valley.
MASS PRODUCTION
Mii did not say when the device, the second generation of extreme ultraviolet lithography tools for making smaller and faster chips, would be used for mass production.
TSMC rival Intel Corp has said it would use the machines in production by 2025 and that it would be the first to receive the machine.
As Intel enters the business of making chips that other companies design, it would be competing with TSMC for those customers.
TSMC senior vice president of business development Kevin Zhang (張曉強) clarified that TSMC would not be ready for production with the new high-NA EUV tool in 2024, but that it would be used mostly for research with partners.
“The importance of TSMC having it in 2024 means they get to the most advanced technology faster,” said TechInsights chip economist Dan Hutcheson, who was at the symposium.
“High-NA EUV is the next major innovation in the technology that will put the chip technology at the lead,” Hutcheson said.
NANOSHEET
TSMC also gave more details on the technology for its 2-nanometer chips, which it said are on track for volume production in 2025.
TSMC said it has spent 15 years developing so-called “nanosheet” transistor technology to improve speed and power efficiency, and will use it for the first time in its 2-nanometer chips.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS