ASML Expands Chipmaking Tools for AI Beyond EUV With New Packaging Focus

ASML's Strategic Expansion in AI Chipmaking Equipment

By Max A. Cherney

SAN JOSE, California, March 2 (Reuters) - ASML Holding has ambitious plans to expand its line of chipmaking equipment into several new products to capture more of the rapidly growing market for artificial intelligence chips, a senior executive told Reuters. 

More than a decade in development, ASML is the only maker of extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, equipment, which is crucial for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Intel in manufacturing the world's most advanced AI chips. ASML has poured billions of dollars into developing the EUV systems, has a next-generation product nearing production and is researching a third potential generation.

Expanding Beyond EUV: Advanced Packaging Initiatives

The Dutch company is looking to grow beyond its EUV roots and plans to expand into the market to make tools that can help glue and connect multiple specialized chips, called advanced packaging - a key building block for AI chips and the advanced memory that feeds them. As part of those plans, the company will deploy AI in its forthcoming businesses and legacy efforts.

"We look, not just for the next five years, we look at the next 10, maybe 15 years," ASML Chief Technology Officer Marco Pieters told Reuters. "(We look at) what are potential directions the industry could take, and what would it require in terms of packaging, bonding, etc.?"

Innovations in Lithography and Chip Size

The EUV machines ASML builds are used for lithography, the process of using light to print complex patterns onto silicon wafers to make chips. The company also plans to determine whether it can expand the maximum size of chips it can print beyond its current boundary - roughly the size of a postage stamp - which limits its speed.

Leadership and Organizational Changes

New Tech Boss

In October, the company promoted Pieters to CTO, replacing Martin van den Brink, who had a roughly 40-year run as head of the technology unit. ASML also said in January it reorganized its technology business to prioritize engineering roles versus management.

Market Expectations and Stock Performance

Investors have priced into the stock the company's dominance in EUV and have lofty expectations for Pieters and CEO Christophe Fouquet, who was appointed in 2024. Shares trade at roughly 40 times forward earnings, compared with Nvidia, which trades at about 22 times earnings.

The $560-billion-market cap company's shares have gained more than 30% this year.

Developing New Tools for AI and Advanced Packaging

ASML is stepping up plans to build machines that help package chips and beginning to develop chipmaking tools that can help build newer generations of advanced AI processors.

"We're actually researching that - to what extent can we participate in it, or what we can add to that part of the business," Pieters said.

Integrating AI into Chipmaking Processes

Pieters, who has a background in ASML's software development effort, said as the company's tools get faster, its engineers will be able to use AI to speed up its machines' control software and the tools' inspection of chips as they are constructed.

Chips Like Skyscrapers: The Future of Chip Design

From Flat Chips to Stacked Architectures

Until the last couple of years, designers such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices built chips that were essentially flat, like a single-story home. Increasingly, chips are becoming more like skyscrapers with multiple levels linked through nanometer-sized connections.

Because of the stamp-sized limit, fusing chips in stacks or horizontally lets designers increase the speed at which chips can perform the complex calculations required for building large AI models or running chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The Rise of Advanced Packaging

The complexity and accuracy required to build skyscraper-style chips has made packaging, once a low-margin volume business, a more lucrative part of manufacturing for companies like ASML. TSMC has used an advanced packaging technology to construct the most advanced Nvidia AI chips.

"But we also see more of that advanced packaging is coming to the front end," Pieters said, referring to what TSMC and others are doing. "Accuracy is becoming more and more important."

Meeting the Needs of Next-Generation Memory and Processors

When Pieters examined the chip manufacturers' plans - including memory makers such as SK Hynix - it became clear there would be a need for additional machines to help companies manufacture things like chips stacked on top of one another.

Last year, ASML disclosed a scanning tool called the XT:260 built specifically to help manufacture advanced memory chips used for AI and the AI processors themselves. The company's engineers are exploring additional machines "as we speak," Pieters said.

"One of the things I'm doing is also looking at what could be a product portfolio in that direction," Pieters said.

Scaling Up: Larger Chips and Advanced Scanners

AI chips have significantly grown in size, and the company is examining additional scanner systems and lithography tools to make chips even larger.

Because the scanning equipment uses expertise such as optics and know-how like the intricate ways a tool handles silicon wafers, it will give ASML an edge in making future machines, Pieters said.

"It will co-exist next to what we've been doing for the last 40 years," he said.

(Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San JoseEditing by Rod Nickel)