In the fierce competition in the global semiconductor industry, Samsung Electronics has recently attracted a lot of attention for a major move. In March 2025, Samsung Electronics announced the official introduction of ASML's High NA (High Numerical Aperture) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, the EXE:5000, at its Hwaseong semiconductor campus. The world's most advanced lithography machine, which costs up to 500 billion won (about 2.488 billion yuan) per unit, is designed to help Samsung improve its competitiveness in the field of 2nm and below processes.
1. Technological breakthroughs and market layout: Samsung's strategic intentions
ASML's High NA EUV lithography equipment is currently the only high-end semiconductor lithography tool available in the world, and its numerical aperture has been increased to 0.55 compared to the existing 0.33 NA EUV equipment, which can significantly improve the lithography accuracy, enabling 2nm and below processes. With higher resolution, High NA EUV reduces the number of multi-patterning steps required for a single exposure, resulting in increased productivity, lower error rates, and improved chip yields.
Samsung Electronics has been evaluating the process application of the device as early as 2023 and plans to build a 2nm process ecosystem once the device is installed. Jinman Han, head of Samsung Foundry, said the company is leading the way in the development of gate-surround (GAA) transistor technology, but the commercialization process still needs to be accelerated. By introducing ASML's latest lithography equipment, Samsung hopes to break through the technical bottleneck of the 2nm process as soon as possible and close the gap with TSMC.
Figure: Samsung's 500 billion won introduction of ASML lithography machines, focusing on 2nm
2. Global Competitive Landscape: TSMC, Intel and Samsung
As the semiconductor industry moves towards 2nm and sub-2nm manufacturing processes, the world's leading foundries are accelerating their deployment. Intel was the first company to purchase High NA EUV devices, taking the first delivery of ASML's first devices in 2023 and planning to purchase at least six units in the next few years. According to Reuters, Intel's first two EXE:5000 devices are already in production and can process about 30,000 wafers per quarter. In addition, Intel also plans to introduce more advanced EXE:5200 devices in 2025 for its 14A (1.4nm equivalent) process node.
TSMC, on the other hand, is more cautious about the introduction of High NA EUV. According to TrendForce data, in the fourth quarter of 2023, TSMC's global foundry market share reached 67%, far exceeding Samsung's 8.1%. TSMC plans to start using High NA EUV devices only in 2028 and continues to rely on current 0.33 NA EUV lithography technology to optimize its 2nm process. TSMC's 2nm process is based on the Nanosheet GAA architecture, which can further reduce leakage current and improve energy efficiency compared to traditional FinFET transistors.
Samsung has been facing yield challenges in advanced processes, especially in the early stage of the 3nm process, and the poor yield performance of its GAA technology has led to a setback in market competitiveness. However, it has recently been reported that Samsung's 2nm trial yield has increased to about 30%, which is a significant improvement from the sluggish performance at the beginning of the 3nm process. In the future, whether Samsung can further improve the yield rate will become a key factor for it to challenge TSMC.
3. Industry Impact and Future Prospects: Technological innovation drives market change
Samsung's introduction of the High NA EUV lithography machine marks another major investment in advanced manufacturing processes. The popularization of High NA EUV technology will not only help improve chip process accuracy and production efficiency, but also promote the evolution of the entire industry to smaller nodes. However, Samsung still faces multiple challenges:
Yield and mass production capacity:
- Although Samsung is a technology leader in GAA technology, how to improve yield is still the biggest challenge in its commercialization process.
- TSMC already has a yield of more than 75% in the 3nm stage, while Samsung's 2nm trial yield is still around 30%, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Customer Trust & Order Acquisition:
- As the market for advanced processes is dominated by TSMC, Samsung needs to get more customer orders to validate the maturity of its processes.
- Major customers such as Qualcomm and Nvidia still rely heavily on TSMC's advanced manufacturing processes, and Samsung needs to attract more companies to its foundry services by improving stability and production capacity.
Global Supply Chain Competition and Geopolitical Factors:
- The global semiconductor supply chain is affected by geopolitics, and Samsung, as a South Korean company, needs to make flexible strategic adjustments in a complex environment such as US-China technology competition and US chip export controls to China.
- At the same time, TSMC is speeding up the construction of factories in the United States, Japan and other places to diversify geopolitical risks, and Samsung also needs to follow up with a similar global layout.
Stability and optimization of EUV equipment:
- High NA EUV is theoretically capable of improving production accuracy, but as a new technology, its stability still needs to be verified over time.
- ASML's EXE:5000 device is still in the testing stage of many semiconductor companies around the world, and how to optimize the process parameters to ensure the continuous and efficient operation of the equipment will be an important issue for Samsung.
4. Conclusion: Can Samsung achieve a counterattack?
Samsung's investment of 500 billion won to introduce ASML's High NA EUV lithography machine this time shows its strong willingness to compete in the 2nm battle. However, relying solely on state-of-the-art devices won't ensure that Samsung will catch up with TSMC in the short term. In the next few years, Samsung must make substantial breakthroughs in yield, mass production capacity, customer expansion, and global supply chain layout to truly shake TSMC's dominant position in the advanced process market.
From the perspective of industry trends, the promotion of High NA EUV technology will become an important driving force to promote the development of the semiconductor industry to smaller nodes. Regardless of whether Samsung can fight back in the 2nm battle in the end, this major move will have a profound impact on the global foundry industry.
