A Move to Secure EUV Equipment Supply
Samsung Electronics announced on Oct. 14 that vice chairman Lee Jae-yong met with executives of ASML, the world’s sole provider of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment in the Netherlands, to discuss ways to cooperation in developing next-generation semiconductor technology.
Lee met with ASML CEO Peter Wennink and CTO Martin van den Brink at the Dutch company’s main office in Eindhoven, the Netherlands on Oct. 13 (local time).
Lee and Wennink exchanged opinions on plans to supply EUV equipment, which holds the key to producing state-of-the-art semiconductors using 7-nanomter (nm) or sub-7nm technology, according to Samsung Electronics. They also discussed cooperation in developing next-generation manufacturing technologies for future semiconductors such as AI chips, market outlooks amid the COVID-19 crisis, and future semiconductor technology strategies in the post-COVID-19 era.
Lee also visited ASML's semiconductor manufacturing equipment production plant and examined EUV equipment production.
This is not the first time that Lee discussed cooperation with ASML executives. He met with ASML CEO Wennink and other executives in November 2016 when they visited Samsung Electronics. At the time, they discussed ways to cooperate on next-generation semiconductor micro-fabrication process technology. In February 2019, they also met and shared opinions on the semiconductor industry in Paris, France.
Samsung Electronics has been working with ASML since the 2000s with a view to developing semiconductor micro-fabrication process technologies and equipment, and made a strategic equity investment in ASML in 2012 to strengthen the partnership.
Samsung Electronics and ASML have been working together in various fields including the development of advanced semiconductor materials optimized for EUV lithography, improvement in equipment productivity, and equipment performance enhancement.
Recently, Samsung Electronics has been expanding its use of EUV equipment from the non-memory sector to production of cutting-edge memory semiconductors. The rapid growth of Samsung’s foundry business is bolstering cooperation between the two companies.