As we all know, Intel is one of the few companies in the world that has the ability to design, create, produce and manufacture its own semiconductor chips. Most recently, with the latest Intel Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" laptop processor series, they are using their own 18A process to produce the processor chips.
Companies such as Intel, Samsung, SK Hynix and TSMC all use EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) lithography equipment to "etch" circuits on the surface of transistors to produce these chips, and until now, regular EUV equipment has been sufficient in terms of performance and output of existing semiconductor chip production.
However, transistors will come in increasingly smaller sizes, and for this, High NA (Numerical Aperture) EUV lithography equipment will need to be used by these companies in the future. Intel is one of the companies that owns a High NA lithography machine manufactured by ASML, which is valued at as high as $300-$400 million per machine.
According to a Reuters report, Intel has been receiving a High NA EUV lithography machine and experimenting with its use since 2024, and now it appears that it has started using the machine to produce several layers of its latest Panther Lake processor chips to speed up the production process of the processor chips.
This process is reportedly to help Intel adapt its use for upcoming new processes such as 14A and also for ASML so that they can collect useful data to improve the performance of their lithography equipment.
