Samsung ‘demanding customer’ for ASML as orders rise

VELDHOVEN, Netherlands – South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. is a “demanding customer” for the Netherlands-based ASML Holding N.V. as it is increasing orders for the Dutch company’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, ASML’s senior executive said.

The world’s No. 1 memory chipmaker is among the company's five customers for EUV scanners, the key to making smaller and denser semiconductor chips. ASML is the world’s only manufacturer of EUV lithography systems.

“Samsung is a demanding customer and we appreciate their feedback as they make us a better company,” ASML’s Chief Financial Officer Roger Dassen told The Korea Economic Daily in a recent interview.

Despite rising interest rates, inflation and the economic downturn, ASML got off to a strong start this year, with an order backlog of 40.4 billion euros ($43 billion).

This year, it plans to ship around 60 EUV systems. Previously, it had produced about 40 units per year. It takes about two years to produce one EUV scanner, while costing $150 million to $200 million per unit. 

EUV scanners can draw the most elaborate and detailed patterns on semiconductor wafers. The lithography machine also simplifies the chip manufacturing process by cutting the number of photolithography processes required to create fine circuits. 

NO SPECIFIC PLAN TO BUILD EUV MANUFACTURING PLANT IN KOREA

ASML is building repair and reuse development centers, as well as a large-scale training center, in Hwaseong, South Korea, to better serve Samsung and SK Hynix Inc. -- the world's two largest memory chipmakers.

The facilities will become the headquarters for its Korean operators. Samsung Electronics runs semiconductor plants in the city.

When asked about any possibility of expanding the facility into a manufacturing base, Dassen said: “Currently, we do not have a specific plan for manufacturing lithography systems in Korea.”

The following is an edited transcript of the Q&A with Roger Dassen:

Q. How long would you expect the competition for EUV systems to continue?

“We have five customers for EUV systems ... As the demand is strong, we are increasing our production capacity, also for EUV systems.”

“As we announced during our Q4FY 2022 financial results presentations in January this year, we are planning to ship around 60 EUV systems (and around 375 DUV systems) in 2023.”

“During our Investor Day in November last year, we confirmed our capacity plans of 600 DUV (deep ultraviolet), 90 EUV systems by 2025-2026 and 20 EUV High-NA systems by 2027-2028.

"So we are expanding our capacity significantly to address the demand.”

Q. What would you see as the potential threats in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment market? 

“Looking to 2023, there continues to be a lot of uncertainty in the market due to a number of global macro concerns around inflation, rising interest rates, recession and the geopolitical environment, including export controls.”

“Customers are still seeing demand weakness in consumer-driven end markets, the most notable being PCs and smartphones, with some indications of softening or lower growth rates in data center demand, while demand strength continues in other end markets such as automotive and industrial.”

“But overall, the demand for our systems continues to be strong. This year, the demand still exceeds our capacity and we entered the year with a backlog of 40.4 billion euros, so our focus will still be on maximizing system output.” 

“We’ve experienced several quarters of very strong bookings, which now provides backlog coverage significantly beyond 2023, which is almost twice the expected 2023 system sales.”

Q. Any progress in the development of high-NA (numerical aperture) EUV systems scheduled to be launched in 2024?  

“All our EUV customers have placed orders for High-NA. We are working closely with all our customers to support them to introduce the new technology into their fabs.”

Q. Any plan to build a manufacturing plant in Korea after completing the repair and reuse development centers in Korea? 

“Currently, we do not have a specific plan for manufacturing lithography systems in Korea.”

Write to In-Yeop Kim at inside@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article