Dutch lithography giant ASML Holding NV has announced that its next-generation chip manufacturing equipment is now ready for delivery to chipmakers for large-scale mass production, marking a significant advancement for the semiconductor industry.

The Netherlands-based company produces the world's only commercial extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which are essential tools for chip manufacturers. According to data provided by ASML, the new equipment will enable chipmakers such as TSMC and Intel to produce more powerful and efficient chips by eliminating several costly and complex steps in the manufacturing process.

ASML Chief Technology Officer Marco Pieters stated on Wednesday that the company plans to release this data at a technology conference in San Jose on Thursday, signaling a major milestone.

ASML has spent years developing these expensive next-generation systems, while chipmakers have been evaluating under what conditions it would be economically viable to adopt them for high-volume manufacturing.

However, as current-generation EUV equipment is nearing its technical limits in producing complex AI chips, the new generation—known as high numerical aperture (High-NA) EUV tools—is considered critical for the AI industry. These tools can enhance technologies like OpenAI's ChatGPT and help chipmakers stay on track with their AI chip development roadmaps amid surging demand.

The new machines cost approximately $400 million each, twice the price of the original EUV systems.

Pieters noted that ASML's data indicate that High-NA EUV tools have significantly reduced downtime, produced 500,000 dinner plate-sized silicon wafers, and achieved patterning precision sufficient to define circuitry on chips. These three metrics collectively demonstrate that the equipment is ready for manufacturer use.

“I think we are at a point now where we need to look at the number of learning cycles that have been completed,” he said, referring to the testing phases conducted by customers.

Although the machines are technically mature, companies still require two to three years of testing and development before fully integrating them into production lines.

“Chipmakers have all the necessary knowledge to validate these tools,” Pieters added.

He also mentioned that the equipment currently operates at an uptime rate of around 80%, with plans to increase that figure to 90% by year-end. Pieters emphasized that the imaging data ASML intends to publish should convince customers to replace multi-step processes of older-generation equipment with single-exposure High-NA technology. The processing of 500,000 wafers has allowed the company to resolve many technical challenges.