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This week’s episode is about EUV productivity: ASML’s kilowatt-class source milestone, and the process-side levers that can help turn more photons into more wafers. We also look at why AI-driven demand keeps EUV on the critical path, and how ASML is positioning “beyond EUV” for chiplet-era integration.

Key takeaways

- ASML says it has demonstrated a 1,000-watt EUV source under customer-representative requirements, up from roughly 600 watts today.

- ASML links higher source power to a productivity path from ~220 wafers per hour today to ~330 wafers per hour by 2030.

- ASML technologists described a roadmap path beyond 1,000 watts, citing ~1,500 watts as “clear” and “no fundamental reason” not to reach 2,000 watts.

- imec reports a 15–20% faster photo-speed for metal-oxide resists when oxygen during post-exposure bake rises from 21% to 50%, enabling dose reduction.

- Dose reduction and source-power scaling are complementary levers: fabs can spend gains on higher throughput or on yield/process margin.

- ASML’s 2025 annual report reports €32.7bn net sales, 52.8% gross margin, €4.7bn R&D spend, and 48 EUV systems sold (out of 535 total systems).

- ASML told Reuters it is expanding its portfolio “beyond EUV,” including interest in advanced packaging, 3D integration tooling, and potentially larger chip printing.

- Meta’s multi-year agreement with AMD, framed at up to 6GW of AMD Instinct GPUs, illustrates how hyperscaler AI buildouts can keep pressure on leading-edge and memory capacity.

Glossary

Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) — 13.5 nm lithography used for the most advanced chip patterning.

Wafers per hour (WPH) — a scanner throughput metric describing processed wafers per hour.

Laser-produced plasma (LPP) — EUV light generation method using a laser to create plasma from tin droplets.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser — high-power laser used in EUV source systems to drive the plasma.

Post-exposure bake (PEB) — thermal step after exposure that influences resist chemistry and final dimensions.

Metal-oxide resist (MOR) — EUV photoresist class often used for high-resolution, low-roughness patterning.

Pellicle — thin membrane protecting the photomask from contamination during exposure.

Advanced packaging — technologies that connect multiple dies (chiplets) via high-density bonding/interconnect.

Exposure dose — energy delivered to the resist; lower dose can improve throughput if other limits allow.