Hyper-NA after high-NA? ASML CTO Van den Brink isn’t convinced

ASML is in a state of high alert. Last year, the company raised its production targets twice: it wants to ship some 600 DUV and 90 EUV scanners by 2025, up from just under 200 and 35, respectively, last year. In a typical week, hundreds of people start their new jobs in Veldhoven. Delivery problems are an everyday occurrence due to the ongoing chip shortage. Not to mention setbacks like the fire at the Berlin plant early this year, which temporarily paralyzed the production of EUV wafer clamps.

Still, Martin van den Brink is content and relaxed. For the first time in a good long while, ASML’s chief technical officer doesn’t have a millstone around his neck. Although not yet as productive as customers would like them to be, EUV scanners have already been indispensable in the production processes of the world’s most advanced chips for a couple of years now. Quite a relief, after an endeavor that took a decade longer than planned.