2023-12-11 18:00:00
尹, Lee Jae-yong and Choi Tae-won visited ASML today. Taiwan’s TSMC sweeps ASML’s ‘EUV equipment’ in limited production of 50 units per year… The gap between Korea and Korea widens. Korea’s ‘2-nano’ future depends on cooperation with the Netherlands.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong (right) is visiting the headquarters of ASML, a semiconductor equipment company in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in June last year to discuss cooperation with ASML CEO Peter Beninck. Provided by Samsung Electronics
With President Yoon Seok-yeol’s visit, the Netherlands, which plays a major role in the ‘semiconductor supply chain’, is receiving new attention. In particular, ASML, a semiconductor equipment company visited by President Yoon, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, virtually exclusively produces exposure equipment essential for cutting-edge semiconductor production. As the high-performance chip market grows rapidly due to the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), some analysts say that the success or failure of the Korea-U.S.-Japan semiconductor alliance may depend on the strength of cooperation with the Netherlands.
According to the semiconductor industry on the 11th, ASML is considered one of the world’s top four semiconductor equipment companies along with Applied Materials and Lam Research of the United States and Tokyo Electron of Japan. According to market research firm Statista, Applied Materials (20%) ranked first and ASML (18%) ranked second in terms of global semiconductor equipment market share last year.
Ahead of his departure for a state visit to the Netherlands on the 10th, President Yoon emphasized, “The ASML visit is an important turning point in the Korea-Dutch semiconductor alliance.” This revealed the perception that ASML is a key partner for strengthening the semiconductor supply chain. President Yoon, along with Chairman Lee and Chairman Choi, will become the first foreign leader to inspect the ASML ‘clean room’ and the latest exposure equipment production site in Feldhoven on the 12th (local time). Semiconductors are manufactured through processes such as exposure to engrave circuits, etching to carve away, cleaning, and deposition to build a film. ASML is the world’s No. 1 company in the exposure field. It produces core equipment that draws fine and complex circuits on wafers, which are semiconductor substrates. In particular, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment, which ASML exclusively supplies worldwide, is essential for ultra-fine processes such as 7 nanometer (nm, 1 nm is 1 billionth of a meter) level system semiconductors and DRAM below the mid-10 nanometer level. .
The number of EUV equipment that ASML can produce per year is limited to regarding 50 units. This is why competition among semiconductor manufacturers to secure equipment is fierce. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s No. 1 foundry (semiconductor consignment production), was almost wiped out. It is analyzed that Samsung Electronics, which is competing with TSMC for 2-nano microprocessing, is strengthening cooperation with ASML to obtain cutting-edge EUV equipment suitable for it.
Chairman Lee previously visited the Netherlands in October 2020 and June of last year to personally take care of ASML. Although it sold some of its shares this year, Samsung Electronics still owns a 0.4% stake in ASML. SK Hynix has continued to cooperate with ASML in 2021 by signing a long-term supply contract for EUV equipment worth 4.7 trillion won for five years. During Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s visit to Korea in November last year, President Yoon had a tea meeting with ASML CEO (CEO/Chairman) Peter Beninck prior to the summit. Chairman Lee and Chairman Choi also attended this event.
According to Trend Force, the foundry market share in the third quarter of this year (July to September) was 57.9% for TSMC and 12.4% for Samsung Electronics, widening the gap between the two companies to 45.5% points. The pursuit by the United States and Japan is also fierce. Intel began producing semiconductor chips in October using the ‘Intel 4’ process, which applied EUV for the first time. Intel’s next-generation central processing unit (CPU) ‘Core Ultra Processor’, which will be released as an AI chip on the 14th, is also produced through EUV.
In the memory field, it is reported that Micron of the United States is planning to mass produce cutting-edge semiconductors by introducing EUV technology at its Hiroshima plant in Japan. This means that memory powerhouses Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have no time to relax.
Professor Kim Jeong-ho of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at KAIST said, “EUV is an essential equipment for ultra-fine processes such as foundries,” adding, “It is very important to strengthen cooperation with the Netherlands and ASML to compete with global companies and grow Korea’s AI semiconductor industry in the future.” “It is an important task,” he said.
Reporter Park Hyeon-ik [email protected]
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