Samsung’s Taylor Fab Nears Operations as ASML Readies Teams

Samsung is gearing up to begin operations at its new semiconductor plant in Taylor, Texas, USA. ASML, the Dutch company that makes extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, has begun forming a dedicated team to support the plant. These EUV machines will play a key role in producing advanced semiconductors, including the next-gen 2nm chips.

ASML team set to install EUV equipment at Samsung’s Taylor fab

According to a report from FNNews, ASML recently posted a job opening for a field service engineer in the Austin, Texas area. It mentions that “We will support the initial startup of Samsung’s EUV equipment.” This suggests that Samsung’s Taylor plant is entering the final stages of preparation for operations. The dedicated ASML team will handle the installation, alignment, and testing of the EUV equipment.

The Taylor fab will use Samsung’s 2nm gate-all-around (GAA) process to build chips for applications such as artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC). For the uninitiated, this cutting-edge manufacturing technology offers significant improvements in performance, power efficiency, and transistor density compared to previous generations. Without EUV machines, making 2nm powered chips will be impossible.

“In the fourth quarter, we expect sales to increase due to full-scale mass production of new products using the first-generation 2nm process, as well as expanded sales of high-performance computing (HPC) and auto products with strong demand from major customers in the U.S. and China, and expanded sales of memory products,” said Kang Seok-chae, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics’ Foundry Business Division during the recent earnings conference call. “We expect further performance improvement through continued improvements in operating rates and cost efficiency activities”.

In recent years, Samsung’s foundry business has been facing stiff competition from industry leader and arch-rival, TSMC. The company remains confident that its new Taylor plant (in the 2nm era) will help regain a foothold in this space. It recently signed a contract (worth $16.5 billion) with Tesla to produce the carmaker’s AI6 chip at the Taylor facility.