Feldhoven is a 1 hour and 40 minutes drive southeast of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This place, which looks like a quiet countryside to outsiders, is a key battlefield in the "chip war" between China and the United States. This is because ASML has its headquarters. Even Taiwan's TSMC, which dominates the global foundry (semiconductor foundry production) market, is just "one of the customers" in front of ASML's extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment "High-NA EUV".

In early September, on a hot summer day, Korean media HankYung became the first media to set foot on the ASML campus and meet ASML CEO Christopher Fouquet. Only a few "semiconductor giants" such as Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and TSMC CEO can leave their signatures on the visitor list. The Korea Economic Daily cooperated with the Seoul National University College of Engineering to publish the "Exploring the Future Technology Field" series of articles for the third time this year. After three years of persuasion, it was able to send reporters here. This is the result of "three trials and three attempts".

After a thorough identity identification on the first floor of the headquarters, after entering the building, the "patent wall" caught my attention. This is a space that summarizes the history of ASML technology. "This is a respect for the engineers who developed the technology," said Kelsey Siegers, ASML's public relations manager. The number of patents held by ASML exceeded 13,500 in 2020, exceeded 15,000 in 2021, exceeded 16,000 in 2022, and 17,000 last year. In the eyes of reporters, this was interpreted as a kind of confidence, "If you want to follow me, then follow me." High-NA EUV is a semiconductor equipment that is strictly prohibited from being exported to China by the United States, which is engaged in a technology and trade war with China.

ASML plans to surprise the world again with High-NA EUV. Without High-NA EUV, it would be impossible to enter the 3-nanometer (nm·1nm=one billionth of a meter) process, which is called the future of wafer foundry. That's why Samsung Electronics and TSMC plan to purchase at least one more device. "The optical system of High-NA EUV can control high-speed light sources with nanometer precision," said CEO Fouquet, "The entire system must be in a vacuum and extremely clean state, and the temperature must be finely controlled at 0.005 degrees Celsius. "We applied a certain level of technology," he emphasized.

High-NA EUV is expected to become a "dream device" that goes beyond nanometers and opens the NGSTRM era for the first time. This means that ultra-fine circuits can be drawn on silicon substrates in units of angstroms (again, 1/10 of 1 nanometer). ASML's technology can be said to be the accumulation of European precision optics from the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, and is expected to write another chapter in the history of semiconductors.

This means that even if the Sino-US hegemony war falls into the abyss, the Netherlands, which has the EUV exposure equipment "Sovereign Tech", will still be a country that is "called by love" by both camps.

01 ASML launches "High-NA EUV" exposure equipment

On the first floor of the ASML campus headquarters in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, there is an "Experience Center" that integrates the technologies accumulated by ASML over the past 40 years. President Yoon Seok-yeol and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong have also visited it. A large part of it displays the key components of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment that only ASML can manufacture in the world.

What caught my eye the most was the lens produced by the German optical company Zeiss. Zeiss's lens plays a role in focusing light and is a key component in creating ASML's "high numerical aperture EUV". Without this lens, EUV technology would not be possible. The original technology of the laser machine that emits light was also introduced from Trump, Germany. That's why ASML CEO Christopher Fouquet said: "The most important word in the history of ASML is ecosystem." China has caught up with the United States in almost all technologies, but the reason why it cannot imitate ASML is that it does not know how to conduct technological cooperation that surpasses one country.

02 The most complex machine in human history

Exposure is the most important of the eight major semiconductor processes. It is the process of repeatedly printing the designed circuit on the wafer by irradiating the light source. It is considered to be the key technology for realizing ultra-fine circuits. The most advanced exposure technology is EUV. ASML's high-NA EUV exposure equipment costs hundreds of billions of won each and is irreplaceable, so much so that it is jokingly called "the most complex machine created by mankind." This is "Sovereign Tech" representing the Netherlands.

Paradoxically, it is through technical cooperation with various companies that an important technology that is sufficient to protect national sovereignty has been created. ASML has more than 5,100 partner companies, cooperating to manufacture EUV exposure machines and deep ultraviolet (DUV) exposure machines at a lower level. The talent recruitment strategy regardless of nationality, education, and profession is also an important axis of ASML's cooperative management. ASML employees come from 140 countries including the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. CEO Fouquet emphasized that "we have more than 44,000 employees with different backgrounds in 16 countries," adding that "we are a leader in recruiting diverse talents regardless of profession or nationality."

03 Increase R&D staff by 50%

The ASML campus I visited last month was busy expanding its fab. Heavy construction equipment was constantly moving, and cleanroom construction was also considered to expand R&D and production facilities. "Our goal is to be able to produce 90 EUV exposure machines per year by 2026 and more than 20 second-generation EUV equipment High-NA EUV per year by 2028," explained Kelsey Siegers, public relations manager.

ASML is seeking to expand its campus because it wants to maintain the EUV technology gap even as the semiconductor war between China and the United States intensifies. ASML continues to expand its R&D investment. The scale of R&D investment in 2020 was 2.2 billion euros, and it almost doubled to 4 billion euros last year. During the same period, the number of R&D employees also increased by 50%, from 10,543 to 15,605. The reason why South Korea, the United States, China and Taiwan have to use ASML equipment is R&D.

Source: Content compiled from HankYung

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