The $400 million machine powering the future of chipmaking

ASML, the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker, has begun shipping its latest extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, a $400 million tool capable of patterning chip features just eight nanometers wide, as the artificial intelligence boom fuels demand for more advanced processors [1]. The new system, which uses extreme ultraviolet light with a 13.5-nanometer wavelength, can resolve features equivalent to the width of roughly 40 silicon atoms [1]. ASML is the only company producing EUV systems for high-volume chip manufacturing, targeting 5-nanometer and 3-nanometer process nodes [5]. The company supplies approximately 90% of all chip-lithography tools worldwide [1]. ASML’s dominance traces back to a wager placed around 2001, when it began pursuing EUV technology while competitors Nikon and Canon abandoned the effort [1]. The research and development program stretched across 16 years and cost roughly $10 billion before the first EUV machines reached the market in 2017 [1]. “It’s a very engineering-heavy company: Let’s send thousands of engineers and just have them mow down these problems. That’s what they did, and it worked,” said Jeff Koch, an analyst at SemiAnalysis and a former ASML employee [1]. The machines are central to the supply chain for advanced logic chips. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which holds roughly 70% of the global semiconductor foundry market, was the first manufacturer to commercialize ASML’s EUV technology in high volume [9]. TSMC is currently producing 4-nanometer chips at its new Arizona complex, with 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer production targeted for 2027 and 2029, respectively [8]. ASML’s corporate headquarters is in Veldhoven, Netherlands, and the company employs more than 42,000 people from 143 nationalities [7]. As of January 2026, its market capitalization stood at approximately $527 billion, making it Europe’s largest technology company [7]. In 2025, ASML reported selling nearly 50 EUV machines and generating close to $40 billion in revenue [1]. The broader semiconductor industry recorded sales of $555.9 billion in 2021, a 26.2% increase from the prior year, with 1.15 trillion units shipped [2]. The industry is projected to reach $726.73 billion by 2027 [2]. ASML’s technology has also become a geopolitical flashpoint. The US government successfully pressured the Netherlands in 2019 to block sales of high-end EUV machines to Chinese firms, part of a broader effort to limit China’s ability to produce advanced AI chips [1]. China has since poured billions into domestic EUV development, though analysts question whether its prototypes can achieve industrial-scale output [1]. Marco Pieters, ASML’s chief technology officer, said the new machine will enable further miniaturization that supports AI advances. “We can allow customers to go to smaller and smaller features, and that opens up the space for whatever we see now today in AI, which is absolutely mind-blowing,” Pieters said. “I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg.” [1]