Text/Hop Jump Said Technology
In the global semiconductor competition, American semiconductors have always wanted to be the "boss".
After seeing that their semiconductor market position has been challenged, their first reaction is not to continue to rely on technological leadership to occupy the first place, but to choose to curb the development of semiconductors in other countries through means such as "small courtyard and high walls" and "toolbox suppression". In this context, the first thing is that the soul lithography machine industry chain for manufacturing chips is limited.
Among them, ASML has chosen to stop supplying EUV lithography machines and some DUV lithography machines to Chinese companies under the coercion and inducement of the United States. I thought that the United States would be able to stop it in moderation when it came to this point, but I never thought that they would also start the idea of remotely locking the lithography equipment. In order to allow customers in the Chinese market to still be limited by the lithography equipment of ASML, Japanese lithography manufacturers, etc., they require the other party to give an explanation.
Against this backdrop, ASML had to announce that they had the ability to remotely disable lithography equipment that was sold. The implication is that as long as there is this demand within the United States semiconductors, then all the lithography machines that are shipped are likely to be "destroyed". Of course, ASML does not dare to take the initiative to say that it will be destroyed, after all, as a global international enterprise, one of their advantages is the domination of the global market, if they really anger these manufacturers, then they are not unable to create an ASML again.
But Lao Mei will not give up, in order to further expand the scope of their chip restrictions, they have visited Japan and the Netherlands to try to get them to further expand the restrictions. On the surface, it is communication, but in fact, this practice is still the United States exercising "hegemonism" and trying to force these countries to follow the restrictions of the United States through means of pressure.
I thought that Lao Mei's operation might impact the market of lithography manufacturers such as ASML. Unexpectedly, ASML received a large order.
According to information reported by Taiwanese media on July 1, TSMC will receive more than 60 EUV lithography machines in 2024-2025. According to the data that the highest price of an EUV lithography machine is 230 million US dollars, these 60 EUV lithography machines have exceeded 100 billion. In other words, in the face of a series of situations such as the lithography machine may be stuck at any time, and can be locked and "destroyed" at any time, TSMC is still not afraid, but has increased the purchase of EUV lithography equipment.
It is reported that TSMC will order 30 and 35 EUV lithography machines this year and next year respectively, and these orders will be delivered in 2026.
So, in the case of a bad prospect, why does TSMC increase the purchase of EUV lithography machines at this time?
We can get the answer from some of the news revealed by the market. First of all, TSMC now has a lot of orders, and most of them come from American companies. Although it seems that TSMC does rely on the revenue provided by American companies, on the other hand, it is also a fact that American companies are difficult to get rid of their dependence on TSMC.
As long as the United States still wants its own semiconductors to have a place in the global market, it is impossible for them to be ruthless against TSMC. In other words, TSMC, which has mastered the chip supply of many American companies, is TSMC's hole card that is not afraid of future lithography opportunities being remotely locked and paralyzed.
In fact, even without American companies, TSMC's position in the global chip foundry field will affect the whole body. If the lithography machine is locked and unable to produce chips, then the global supply chain will face a large-scale paralysis, and the United States has no ability to be responsible for this situation, so TSMC is unscrupulous at this time.
Secondly, even in the face of the impact, TSMC has to bite the bullet. On the one hand, Intel and Samsung's chip foundries are eyeing each other, although Samsung's chip foundry is being criticized for not being able to seize more market share with low prices, and Intel's own chips are intended to be outsourced to TSMC and so on, but TSMC's future challenges are not many.
What's more, China's chip manufacturers are still making efforts to further devour TSMC's market in mature chip processes.
On the other hand, TSMC's senior management has expressed great interest in ASML's High-NA lithography machine, but they are only interested in the advanced technology, but they are not so fond of their price. This also means that TSMC will not rely on more sophisticated lithography machines to ensure its technical advantages in the short term, and in this context, TSMC can only increase the purchase of EUV lithography machines to stabilize its position in the foundry field.
Finally, and most crucially, the United States cannot let ASML really go to the step of locking and "destroying" the lithography machine. First, the Netherlands is not as keen on restrictions as before, and even Japanese semiconductors are not so eager to follow the United States in further restrictions. The main reason is that they are afraid that their companies operating in China will encounter the same restrictions, or further impact the healthy development of the local semiconductor industry.
Then, as long as the Netherlands and ASML bite to death and don't let go, Lao Mei can't do anything about them. Unless they can give more promises and benefits.
This second point, naturally, is that the original reason for wanting to "destroy" the equipment is well known, and the United States has been warning many times about this issue. But the reality is that they are just talking about it, and the actual actions are not there. Moreover, even if they do come to this impasse, they have already reached the foregone conclusion before they have even begun. TSMC may also know this, and there is a big tree behind it, so it will still place orders to purchase so many EUV lithography machines at such a critical juncture.
Having said that, no matter what TSMC is buying EUV lithography machines for, ASML should also be in a hurry. According to their forecast, 20 High-NA lithography machines, 90 EUV lithography machines, and 600 DUV lithography machines will be shipped by 2025. Now, TSMC is clearly not interested in cutting-edge lithography equipment, and Samsung is also waiting on the sidelines. There is only one Intel left, although the attitude of early procurement is very clear, but they really have no room for follow-up development. In this way, how else does ASML make money on High-NA? If you don't say it well, it will completely waste all the previous R&D funds.
Finally, what do you think about the fact that ASML has received so many orders this time? Feel free to leave a comment, like and share with you!