Building on years of successful cooperation, the companies will work together to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies that support the increasing performance and efficiency requirements of advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Samsung will join the industry initiative to advance next-generation 12-inch photomask technology for future manufacturing. The semiconductor industry has relied on the 6-inch photomask format for decades. With High NA EUV, the transition to larger, 12-inch masks is expected to further increase fab productivity, lower chipmaking costs and remove stitching constraints. It will enable advanced chip manufacturers to fully leverage the advantages of High NA EUV, making future generations of leading-edge chips more cost-effective.

Drawing on its leadership in both memory and foundry manufacturing, as well as its extensive experience with advanced EUV lithography, Samsung is positioned to play a critical role in the 12-inch photomask transition. The company will work closely with industry partners to develop the required mask technologies and supporting infrastructure.

Samsung also plans to introduce ASML’s High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography into future DRAM high-volume manufacturing for the first time in the industry by 2028, further demonstrating the readiness of High NA technology to support advanced memory and logic applications. High NA EUV is expected to extend the DRAM scaling roadmap, with improved resolution enabling process simplification and increased efficiency.

The announcement reflects a shared commitment to innovation, technology leadership, and long-term partnership. Samsung and ASML expect to continue exploring opportunities for collaboration in areas including advanced memory and innovative manufacturing approaches.

Young Hyun Jun, Vice Chairman & CEO, Samsung Electronics, said: “The AI era is transforming the semiconductor industry and increasing the importance of technological innovation across the entire value chain. Samsung is committed to maintaining leadership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, including memory and foundry, through breakthrough technologies and strong partnerships. By further strengthening our collaboration with ASML, we are helping lay the foundation for the next generation of AI and semiconductor innovation.”

Christophe Fouquet, President and Chief Executive Officer, ASML, said: “Samsung has been one of ASML’s most important innovation partners for many years. Together, we have helped advance the technologies that underpin modern semiconductor manufacturing. As the industry enters a new era driven by artificial intelligence, close collaboration with our customers becomes even more important. We look forward to working with Samsung to enable the next wave of semiconductor innovation.”

About ASML Holding N.V.
ASML is a leading supplier to the semiconductor industry. The company provides chipmakers with hardware, software and services to mass produce the patterns of integrated circuits (microchips). Together with its partners, ASML drives the advancement of more affordable, more powerful, more energy-efficient microchips. ASML enables groundbreaking technology to solve some of humanity’s toughest challenges, such as in healthcare, energy use and conservation, mobility, and agriculture. ASML is a multinational company headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, with offices across EMEA, the US and Asia. Every day, ASML’s more than 44,000 employees (FTE) challenge the status quo and push technology to new limits. ASML is traded on Euronext Amsterdam and NASDAQ under the symbol ASML. Discover ASML — our products, technology and career opportunities — at www.asml.com.

The plan represents an increase of KRW 38 trillion from the previous commitment of KRW 133 trillion announced in April 2019 and is expected to help the Company reach its goal of becoming the world leader in logic chips by 2030. For the past two years, Samsung has been closely collaborating with various semiconductor design companies, component and equipment manufacturers, as well as academia in making progress towards that goal.

The expansion of the Company’s Foundry Business will help fuel entire new industries built on next-generation technologies like AI, 5G and autonomous driving.

The Company also announced that it has begun construction of a new production line in Pyeongtaek, Korea, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022. The state-of-the-art facility equipped with the latest technology, P3, will produce 14-nanometer DRAM and 5-nanometer logic semiconductors, both based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology.

“The entire semiconductor industry is facing a watershed moment and now is the time to chart out a plan for long-term strategy and investment,” said Dr. Kinam Kim, Vice Chairman and Head of Device Solutions Division at Samsung Electronics. “For the memory business, where Samsung has maintained its undisputed leadership position, the Company will continue to make preemptive investments to lead the industry.”

As one of the world’s largest semiconductor clusters, Pyeongtaek will serve as the leading hub for next-generation innovations.