"TSMC carefully evaluates technology innovations such as new transistor structures and new tools and considers their maturity, cost, and benefit to customers before deploying them to volume production," the chipmaker told The Reg.
"As we disclosed at our 2024 Technology Symposiums earlier this year, our EUV tool count was ten times greater in 2023 versus 2019, accounting for 56 percent of the global installed base... TSMC plans to bring in high-NA EUV scanners first for R&D to develop the associated infrastructure and patterning solution needed for customers to fuel innovation," it added.
High-NA EUV scanners are advanced lithography machines that use extreme ultraviolet light to etch very fine, dense patterns onto semiconductor wafers... These tools are critical for producing smaller, more powerful chips - which in turn enable TSMC to increase transistor density and chip performance.
The machines won't immediately go into operation - they will require extensive testing, calibration, and engineering work to optimize the processes needed for high-volume manufacturing. Even then, according to reports, they may not go into commercial production until after 2030.
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