As Christoph Fouquet, CEO of ASML, visits Korea, Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and head of the Device Solutions (DS) institutional sector at Samsung Electronics, and Kwak Noh-jung, president and CEO of SK hynix, are said to be meeting to discuss semiconductor cooperation measures.
According to the industry on the 12th, CEO Fouquet is said to plan to meet Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun in the afternoon after attending the completion ceremony of the ASML Hwaseong Campus held in Songdong, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, in the morning. He was understood to have met with President Kwak Noh-jung the previous day. ASML is a Dutch semiconductor equipment corporations that exclusively produces extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment essential for implementing ultra-fine semiconductor processes.
ASML is understood to plan to strengthen cooperative ties with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix based on this meeting. Earlier, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix brought in ASML's state-of-the-art "High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV)" equipment. Samsung Electronics installed a High NA tool in Korea for the first time early this year and decided to add one more mass-production tool within the year. SK hynix brought a mass-production High NA tool into the Icheon M16 fab in September.
High NA EUV is a next-generation lithography tool that greatly improves resolution over existing EUV, with a price per unit exceeding 500 billion won. It is essential for foundry (contract semiconductor manufacturing) processes at 2 nm (nanometer; 1 nm is one-billionth of a meter) and below, and for memory semiconductor production processes at 10 nm and below.
Samsung Electronics plans to first deploy ASML's cutting-edge tools to improve performance and Production yield in its 2-nanometer process, where it is staking its foundry (contract semiconductor manufacturing) business. SK hynix also intends to actively use them to manufacture high-performance AI memory semiconductors.