ASML (ASML) has unique technology in the world.

(Reuters)

Independent from Philips in 1984

[Financial Channel/Comprehensive Report] Dutch semiconductor device manufacturer ASML (ASML) became independent from the famous Dutch electronics manufacturer Philips in 1984. It has gone through 39 years since its establishment, and has a place in the global semiconductor market. It is extremely high, and it can even be said that it is dominant in one side. It has developed into the world's largest wafer lithography equipment market leader, and it has a technology that is unique in the world.

The company currently provides services in 16 countries and regions around the world.

Many semiconductor manufacturers including TSMC, Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix are its customers.

Please read on...

The chip shortage has made European and American companies actively deploy semiconductor research and development. At present, the semiconductor industry is ushering in a correction period. Due to the weak demand in the consumer market, the demand for laptops, smart phones and other products has also exhausted the dividends of the epidemic, which will also affect the tax reduction of semiconductor factories. , TSMC, Micron (Micron), and Intel and other major international manufacturers have also reduced capital expenditures. Even so, ASML's dominance and irreplaceability still enable the company to submit a beautiful report card in its financial report.

ASML's market share is as high as 95%, and its dominance is stable.


(Bloomberg)

The only factory in the world that can manufacture extreme ultraviolet exposure machines (EUV)

At present, ASML is the only company in the world that can sell extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography exposure machines to chip manufacturers such as Samsung and TSMC. Japan’s Nikon and Canon once monopolized the global exposure machine market , but after losing to Asmol, the research and development of EUV equipment has stagnated, and currently there is only a deep ultraviolet (DUV) exposure machine.

ASML is one of the keys to keeping the global semiconductor market competitive. It recently announced its 2022 performance. The report shows that the company's sales last year reached 21.2 billion euros (approximately NT$688.4 billion), an increase of 13.8 billion compared with 2021. %, of which, the exposure machine revenue alone reached US$16.1 billion (approximately NT$522.8 billion), an increase of US$13.1 billion (approximately NT$425.4 billion) over the previous year, an increase of 23%. It will grow by 25%. Compared with Nikon and Canon, ASML's dominance is still stable.

According to the technology website "Semiconductor Industry Observation", last year the world's top three exposure machine manufacturers ASML, Nikon, and Canon shipped a total of 551 photolithography machines for integrated circuits, an increase of 73 units from the previous year's 478 units, an increase of 100%. 15%.

Judging from the shipments of the three high-end models of EUV, ArFi, and ArF, a total of 157 units were shipped last year, an increase of more than 3% from the previous year, of which 149 units were shipped by ASML, accounting for 95% of the market.

TSMC has partnered with ASML to successfully promote the practical application of EUV.

(Bloomberg)

TSMC proposes "immersive exposure" ASML decides to take a gamble

The United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries are all semiconductor powerhouses. Why is there no company in the chip powerhouse that can compete with ASML in the exposure machine market?

 In 2002, Lin Benjian, the former vice president of R&D of TSMC, took the "immersive exposure" plan and traveled all over the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries to lobby various semiconductor giants, but all of them were rejected. ASML, which was still a small player at the time, decided to take a gamble Compared with the previous investment in traditional dry lithography, betting on immersion technology is more likely to make a big difference with a small amount.

So ASML and Lin Benjian hit it off, and in just over a year, they worked hard to drive out the first prototype in 2004, and successively won orders from major customers such as IBM and TSMC.

TSMC chose ASML as a partner to promote EUV development. Although the process experienced twists and turns, it also successfully realized the practical application of EUV that Intel failed to achieve. In 2019, it successfully launched mass production of cutting-edge semiconductors.

The world's cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing has gradually been monopolized by ASML and TSMC, and it has even become a situation where cutting-edge products cannot be produced without these two companies, especially in the case of rapid growth in areas such as autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI). may become apparent.

ASML's investment in Taiwan is five times that of South Korea.

(Reuters)

In Taiwan, there are five factories investing 30 billion in Taiwan

ASML currently has five factories in Taiwan, employing more than 4,500 people, and continues to expand the team; ASML executive vice president and chief operating officer said that the global semiconductor industry is developing actively, and the contribution of Taiwan's semiconductor industry to the world is obvious to all. The company will We will continue to increase investment in Taiwan and support Taiwan's customer base and the global semiconductor industry.

In November last year, ASML announced that it would invest 30 billion yuan in the Linkou Industrial Zone, the largest investment in Taiwan in history, and about 2,000 employees will be stationed there.

Schneider said that Taiwan is a leader in the world's semiconductor industry and an indispensable leading role in the world's advanced manufacturing processes.

Since ASML established a subsidiary in Hsinchu in 2003, it has grown together with Taiwanese manufacturers such as TSMC, and Taiwan has become the only manufacturing base for DUV mask transfer modules in the world.

Joining the chip war, ASML dominates the fate of China's semiconductors.

(Reuters)

Join the battle and pinch the lifeline of China's semiconductors

The global semiconductor competition has gradually evolved into a war. In order to attack China and prevent it from using chips in military research, the United States is actively deploying troops to win over international allies and curb China's semiconductor development.

According to comprehensive foreign media reports, the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands have reached a consensus on the containment of China's semiconductor industry. The Dutch government will ask ASML to stop exporting some exposure machines necessary for manufacturing chips to China, so that China cannot manufacture high-end chips. ASML and Japan's Nikon, etc. Enterprises will follow up to restrict China's access to semiconductor-related equipment in order to weaken China's chip ambitions.

ASML’s cessation of sales of high-end chip lithography machines to China is expected to have a great impact on China’s semiconductor industry. In addition to reducing the pace of China’s self-manufacturing of chips, it also means that the chip ban imposed by the United States has expanded from a ban on exporting high-end chip equipment to mature Low-to-mid-level wafer equipment for the manufacturing process.

Once the United States, Japan and the Netherlands officially cut off the supply, and lack of Western technology, it will take at least 20 years for China's semiconductor industry to narrow the gap, and the entire Chinese semiconductor industry will shrink.

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